oracular
English
WOTD – 28 October 2009
Etymology
From Middle French oraculaire.
Pronunciation
Adjective
oracular
- Of or relating to an oracle.
- 1810, Walter Scott, “(please specify the canto number or page)”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):
- In some of the Hebrides they attributed the same oracular power to a large black stone by the sea-shore, which they approached with certain solemnities, and considered the first fancy which came into their own minds, after they did so, to be the undoubted dictate of the tutelar deity of the stone, and, as such, to be, if possible, punctually complied with.
- Prophetic, foretelling the future.
- 1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy. A Poem. […], London: Edward Moxon […], published 1832, →OCLC:
- And that slaughter to the Nation / Shall steam up like inspiration, / Eloquent, oracular; / A volcano heard afar.
- 1963, “Chapter 26”, in Joseph Hitrec, transl., Bosnian Chronicle, New York: Arcade, translation of original by Ivo Andrić, published 1993, page 402:
- It was one of those dire oracular pronouncements that Marko made from time to time, which were afterwards spread from mouth to mouth among the Serbs.
- Wise, authoritative.
- 1844 January–December, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. [The Luck of Barry Lyndon.]”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume III, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1856, →OCLC:
- My Lord Chatham, whose wisdom his party in those days used to call superhuman, raised his oracular voice in the House of Peers against the American contest;
- Ambiguous, hard to interpret.
- 1754, Horace Walpole, letter to John Chute:
- Nothing offended me but that lisping Miss Haughton, whose every speech is inarticulately oracular.
- 1895, Andrew Dickson White, History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom:
- This utterance was admirably oracular, being susceptible of cogent quotation by both sides […]
Related terms
Translations
of or relating to an oracle
|
prophetic, foretelling the future
|
ambiguous, hard to interpret
|
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /o.ɾa.kuˈlaʁ/ [o.ɾa.kuˈlah]
- (São Paulo) IPA(key): /o.ɾa.kuˈlaɾ/
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /o.ɾa.kuˈlaʁ/ [o.ɾa.kuˈlaχ]
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /o.ɾa.kuˈlaɻ/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ɔ.ɾɐ.kuˈlaɾ/
- (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /ɔ.ɾɐ.kuˈla.ɾi/
Adjective
oracular m or f (plural oraculares)
Romanian
Adjective
oracular m or n (feminine singular oraculară, masculine plural oraculari, feminine and neuter plural oraculare)
Declension
Declension of oracular
singular | plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
nominative/ accusative | indefinite | oracular | oraculară | oraculari | oraculare | ||
definite | oracularul | oraculara | oracularii | oracularele | |||
genitive/ dative | indefinite | oracular | oraculare | oraculari | oraculare | ||
definite | oracularului | oracularei | oracularilor | oracularelor |
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /oɾakuˈlaɾ/ [o.ɾa.kuˈlaɾ]
- Rhymes: -aɾ
- Syllabification: o‧ra‧cu‧lar
Further reading
- “oracular”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
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