omen

Word family

o·men /ˈəʊmən $ ˈoʊ-/ noun [countableC]

a sign of what will happen in the future 前兆，预兆，兆头

The car won’t start. Do you think it’s an omen?

汽车发动不起来。你觉得这是某种预兆吗？

a good/bad/ill omen

The mist seemed like a bad omen and Sara’s heart sank a little.

这薄雾就像是个不好的兆头，萨拉的心往下一沉。

omen of

He will regard your presence as an omen of good fortune.

他会把你的到场看成好运的预兆。

omen for

It’s a good omen for the future.

这对未来而言是个好兆头。

Examples from the Corpus

omen• Might that be an omen of sorts for the brave new telecommunications world to come?• Perhaps an omen of things to come.• It was an omen, but Margo and Duke plunged in.• George thought the car breaking down on the way to his wedding was a bad omen.• Several times they started to build a city, but they were always driven away by misfortunes or bad omens.• "Maybe this is a good omen, " said Jill, seeing a blue sky for the first time in weeks.• Oshagatsu is all about establishing good omens for the coming year.• Do you think the rain is some kind of omen?• On the face of it, the omens are good.• The augur's skill didn't consist in luck with the omens, but in reading them right.

a good/bad/ill omen• The storm was over and he regarded that as a good omen.• It seemed to be a good omen.• In Celtic countries it was always considered a good omen if one of these cats decided to settle in the home.• The seamen consider these cries a bad omen.• He could not determine whether this was a good or a bad omen.• The juice landed on the floor like a red bubbly snake, a bad omen suddenly materializing out of thin air.• That was O.K. Perhaps it was a good omen.• It was a bad omen for the R & B world.

Origin omen

(1500-1600) Latin

o·men noun

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus