augurous

English

Alternative forms

• augurious

Etymology

From augur +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɔːɡəɹəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɡəɹəs/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɡəɹəs/

Adjective

augurous (comparative more augurous, superlative most augurous)

1. (uncommon) Full of augury; foreboding.

   Synonyms: inauspicious, portentous; see also Thesaurus:ominous

   • [1611?], Homer, “The XVIII. Booke of Homers Iliads”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC, page 258:

     [S]o feard / The faire-man’d horſes, that they flew, backe, and their chariots turn’d, / Preſaging in their augurous hearts, the labours that they mourn’d / A little after; […]

   • 1967, Indian Librarian, volume 22, page 77:

     The library movement made an augurous start in India but the momentum can only be kept through the concerted efforts of the Indian Library Association, educators, central and state governments, and municipalities, for elevating the status of professional librarian.

   • 1994, Gerald Bordman, American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1869–1914, New York, N.Y., Oxford, Oxon: Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

     The Mikado had gotten the preceding season off to an exhilarating, augurous start.

Related terms

• augural

References

• “augurous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.