monition

English

WOTD – 26 November 2011

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman monicion, Middle French monicion, and their source, Latin monitiō (warning, admonition).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məˈnɪʃn̩/

Noun

monition (plural monitions)

  1. A caution or warning. [from 14th c.]
    • 1820, Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer, volume 1, page 191-192:
      I heard something of it, however, and, young as I was, could not help wondering how men who carried the worst passions of life into their retreat, could imagine that retreat was a refuge from the erosions of their evil tempers, the monitions of conscience, and the accusations of God.
    • 1890, Henry James, The Tragic Muse:
      He cherished the usual wise monitions, such as that one was not to make a fool of one's self and that one should not carry on one's technical experiments in public.
  2. A legal notification of something. [from 15th c.]
  3. A sign of impending danger; an omen. [from 15th c.]
    • 1839, Edgar Allan Poe, ‘William Wilson’:
      I recognise the first ambiguous monitions of the destiny which afterwards so fully overshadowed me.

Synonyms

Translations

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