"numinous" meaning in English

See numinous in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈnjuːmɪnəs/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈn(j)umənəs/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-numinous.wav Forms: more numinous [comparative], most numinous [superlative]
Etymology: From Latin nūmen (“nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity”) + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality). Nūmen is believed to derive either from Latin *nuō (“to nod”) or from Ancient Greek νοούμενον (nooúmenon, “influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses”) (ultimately from νόος (nóos, “mind; thought; purpose”)). Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*new- (nod)}}, {{der|en|la|nūmen||nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity}} Latin nūmen (“nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity”), {{suffix|en||ous|pos2=suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality}} + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality), {{der|en|la|*nuō||to nod}} Latin *nuō (“to nod”), {{der|en|grc|νοούμενον||influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses}} Ancient Greek νοούμενον (nooúmenon, “influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses”) Head templates: {{en-adj}} numinous (comparative more numinous, superlative most numinous)
  1. Of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity. Categories (topical): Religion Translations (of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity): свръхестествен (svrǎhestestven) (Bulgarian), 努秘 (nǔmì) (Chinese Mandarin), numinøse (Danish), jumalallinen (Finnish), hengellinen (Finnish), numineux [masculine] (French), numinoso [masculine] (Galician), numinos (German), numinózus (Hungarian), numinoso [masculine] (Italian), numinosa [feminine] (Italian), ヌミノーゼ (Japanese), numinoziškumas (Latvian), giyanî (Northern Kurdish), pîroz (Northern Kurdish), нумино́зность (numinóznostʹ) (Russian), numinozan [masculine] (Serbo-Croatian), numinozna [feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), numinozno [neuter] (Serbo-Croatian), numinoso (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-numinous-en-adj-qfv7KNh9 Disambiguation of Religion: 58 42 Disambiguation of 'of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity': 98 2
  2. Evoking a sense of the mystical, sublime, or transcendent; awe-inspiring. Translations (evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring): mystinen (Finnish), numinos (German), misztikus (Hungarian), titokzatos (Hungarian), numinozan [masculine] (Serbo-Croatian), numinozna [feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), numinozno [neuter] (Serbo-Croatian)
    Sense id: en-numinous-en-adj--KYbaX7L Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -ous, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with Danish translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Galician translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Japanese translations, Terms with Latvian translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Northern Kurdish translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 42 58 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ous: 38 62 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 34 66 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 37 63 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 33 67 Disambiguation of Terms with Bulgarian translations: 32 68 Disambiguation of Terms with Danish translations: 26 74 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 32 68 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 28 72 Disambiguation of Terms with Galician translations: 32 68 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 31 69 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 34 66 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 27 73 Disambiguation of Terms with Japanese translations: 27 73 Disambiguation of Terms with Latvian translations: 32 68 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 31 69 Disambiguation of Terms with Northern Kurdish translations: 24 76 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 27 73 Disambiguation of Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations: 32 68 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 25 75 Disambiguation of 'evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring': 8 92
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: numinosity, numinously, numinousness Related terms: numen, numinal
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "numinosity"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "numinously"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "numinousness"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*new- (nod)"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "nūmen",
        "4": "",
        "5": "nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin nūmen (“nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "ous",
        "pos2": "suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality"
      },
      "expansion": "+ -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality)",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "*nuō",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to nod"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin *nuō (“to nod”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "νοούμενον",
        "4": "",
        "5": "influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek νοούμενον (nooúmenon, “influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin nūmen (“nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity”) + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality). Nūmen is believed to derive either from Latin *nuō (“to nod”) or from Ancient Greek νοούμενον (nooúmenon, “influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses”) (ultimately from νόος (nóos, “mind; thought; purpose”)).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more numinous",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most numinous",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "numinous (comparative more numinous, superlative most numinous)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "nu‧min‧ous"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "numen"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "numinal"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "58 42",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Religion",
          "orig": "en:Religion",
          "parents": [
            "Culture",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "His interest in numinous objects led him on a quest for the Holy Grail.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1972, Burr Cartwright Brundage, “The Mexica Gain a King”, in A Rain of Darts: The Mexica Aztecs (Texas Pan American Series), Austin, Tx., London: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 23:",
          "text": "The fetish of Huitzilopochtli, bundled up and screened from profane eyes, now preceded the wandering group, carried on the back of his oracle-priest or sorcerer who alone was holy enough to handle safely the numinous object.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 40:",
          "text": "He held his own body in numinous esteem.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1981, C. Bennett Pascal, “October Horse”, in D[avid] R[oy] Shackleton Bailey, editor, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, volume 85, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 278:",
          "text": "The use of blood to instill numen into a thing is illustrated by the establishment and annual renewal of Terminus, the boundary marker […] The transfer of numinous power to persons has its example in the drinking of blood by seers in order to get oracular vision.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity."
      ],
      "id": "en-numinous-en-adj-qfv7KNh9",
      "links": [
        [
          "numen",
          "numen"
        ],
        [
          "divinity",
          "divinity"
        ],
        [
          "presence",
          "presence"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "svrǎhestestven",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "свръхестествен"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "nǔmì",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "努秘"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "numinøse"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "jumalallinen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "hengellinen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "numineux"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "numinoso"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "numinos"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "numinózus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "numinoso"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "numinosa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "ヌミノーゼ"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "kmr",
          "lang": "Northern Kurdish",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "giyanî"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "kmr",
          "lang": "Northern Kurdish",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "pîroz"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "lv",
          "lang": "Latvian",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "numinoziškumas"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "numinóznostʹ",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "нумино́зность"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "numinozan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "numinozna"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "numinozno"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
          "word": "numinoso"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "42 58",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "38 62",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ous",
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          "_dis": "34 66",
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          "_dis": "37 63",
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        {
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        {
          "_dis": "32 68",
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          "name": "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "26 74",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Danish translations",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 72",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Galician translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "34 66",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "27 73",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "27 73",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Latvian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Northern Kurdish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "27 73",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "25 75",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC; The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America (Force’s Collection of Historical Tracts; vol. III, no. 8), 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Daniel Henchman, […]; [Washington, D.C.: W. Q. Force], 1713 (1844 printing), →OCLC, page 44:",
          "text": "The Will of a King is very numinous; it hath a kind of vast universality in it, it is many times greater than the will of his whole Kingdom, stiffened with ill Counsel and ill Presidents: […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 6, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 136:",
          "text": "Behind the hieroglyphic streets there would either be a transcendent meaning, or only the earth. In the songs Miles, Dean, Serge and Leonard sang was either some fraction of the truth's numinous beauty (as Mucho now believed) or only a power spectrum.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1971, Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity: From Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad (Library of European civilization), London: Thames and Hudson, →ISBN, page 154:",
          "text": "[Justinian I] had the genius to realize the vast resources available to an east Roman emperor of the early sixth century — an almost numinous past history, a full treasury, an unrivalled supply of human talent in every field.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996, Anne Bernays, “Introduction”, in Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Merry Tales, New York, N.Y., Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page xxxix:",
          "text": "Is death closer than they think? [Samuel Langhorne] Clemens sets the scene with a numinous description of the men waiting in the corncrib in the \"veiled moonlight.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, China Miéville, chapter 4, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC:",
          "text": "A post-scarcity communism that doesn't dispense with all thoughts of the divine and numinous can't be precluded.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Evoking a sense of the mystical, sublime, or transcendent; awe-inspiring."
      ],
      "id": "en-numinous-en-adj--KYbaX7L",
      "links": [
        [
          "Evoking",
          "evoke"
        ],
        [
          "sense",
          "sense#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "mystical",
          "mystical"
        ],
        [
          "sublime",
          "sublime"
        ],
        [
          "transcendent",
          "transcendent"
        ],
        [
          "awe-inspiring",
          "awe-inspiring"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "8 92",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
          "word": "mystinen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "8 92",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
          "word": "numinos"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "8 92",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
          "word": "misztikus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "8 92",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
          "word": "titokzatos"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "8 92",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "numinozan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "8 92",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "numinozna"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "8 92",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "numinozno"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnjuːmɪnəs/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈn(j)umənəs/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-numinous.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/15/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-numinous.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-numinous.wav.mp3",
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    }
  ],
  "word": "numinous"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *new- (nod)",
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    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
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    "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
    "Terms with Danish translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Galician translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Japanese translations",
    "Terms with Latvian translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Northern Kurdish translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "en:Religion"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "numinosity"
    },
    {
      "word": "numinously"
    },
    {
      "word": "numinousness"
    }
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*new- (nod)"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "nūmen",
        "4": "",
        "5": "nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin nūmen (“nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "ous",
        "pos2": "suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality"
      },
      "expansion": "+ -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality)",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "*nuō",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to nod"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin *nuō (“to nod”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "νοούμενον",
        "4": "",
        "5": "influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek νοούμενον (nooúmenon, “influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin nūmen (“nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity”) + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality). Nūmen is believed to derive either from Latin *nuō (“to nod”) or from Ancient Greek νοούμενον (nooúmenon, “influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses”) (ultimately from νόος (nóos, “mind; thought; purpose”)).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more numinous",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most numinous",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "numinous (comparative more numinous, superlative most numinous)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "nu‧min‧ous"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "numen"
    },
    {
      "word": "numinal"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "His interest in numinous objects led him on a quest for the Holy Grail.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1972, Burr Cartwright Brundage, “The Mexica Gain a King”, in A Rain of Darts: The Mexica Aztecs (Texas Pan American Series), Austin, Tx., London: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 23:",
          "text": "The fetish of Huitzilopochtli, bundled up and screened from profane eyes, now preceded the wandering group, carried on the back of his oracle-priest or sorcerer who alone was holy enough to handle safely the numinous object.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 40:",
          "text": "He held his own body in numinous esteem.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1981, C. Bennett Pascal, “October Horse”, in D[avid] R[oy] Shackleton Bailey, editor, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, volume 85, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 278:",
          "text": "The use of blood to instill numen into a thing is illustrated by the establishment and annual renewal of Terminus, the boundary marker […] The transfer of numinous power to persons has its example in the drinking of blood by seers in order to get oracular vision.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "numen",
          "numen"
        ],
        [
          "divinity",
          "divinity"
        ],
        [
          "presence",
          "presence"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC; The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America (Force’s Collection of Historical Tracts; vol. III, no. 8), 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Daniel Henchman, […]; [Washington, D.C.: W. Q. Force], 1713 (1844 printing), →OCLC, page 44:",
          "text": "The Will of a King is very numinous; it hath a kind of vast universality in it, it is many times greater than the will of his whole Kingdom, stiffened with ill Counsel and ill Presidents: […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 6, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 136:",
          "text": "Behind the hieroglyphic streets there would either be a transcendent meaning, or only the earth. In the songs Miles, Dean, Serge and Leonard sang was either some fraction of the truth's numinous beauty (as Mucho now believed) or only a power spectrum.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1971, Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity: From Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad (Library of European civilization), London: Thames and Hudson, →ISBN, page 154:",
          "text": "[Justinian I] had the genius to realize the vast resources available to an east Roman emperor of the early sixth century — an almost numinous past history, a full treasury, an unrivalled supply of human talent in every field.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996, Anne Bernays, “Introduction”, in Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Merry Tales, New York, N.Y., Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page xxxix:",
          "text": "Is death closer than they think? [Samuel Langhorne] Clemens sets the scene with a numinous description of the men waiting in the corncrib in the \"veiled moonlight.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, China Miéville, chapter 4, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC:",
          "text": "A post-scarcity communism that doesn't dispense with all thoughts of the divine and numinous can't be precluded.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Evoking a sense of the mystical, sublime, or transcendent; awe-inspiring."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Evoking",
          "evoke"
        ],
        [
          "sense",
          "sense#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "mystical",
          "mystical"
        ],
        [
          "sublime",
          "sublime"
        ],
        [
          "transcendent",
          "transcendent"
        ],
        [
          "awe-inspiring",
          "awe-inspiring"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnjuːmɪnəs/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈn(j)umənəs/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-numinous.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/15/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-numinous.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-numinous.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/15/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-numinous.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-numinous.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "svrǎhestestven",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "свръхестествен"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "nǔmì",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "努秘"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "numinøse"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "jumalallinen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "hengellinen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "numineux"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "numinoso"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "numinos"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "numinózus"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "numinoso"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "numinosa"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "ヌミノーゼ"
    },
    {
      "code": "kmr",
      "lang": "Northern Kurdish",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "giyanî"
    },
    {
      "code": "kmr",
      "lang": "Northern Kurdish",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "pîroz"
    },
    {
      "code": "lv",
      "lang": "Latvian",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "numinoziškumas"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "numinóznostʹ",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "нумино́зность"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "numinozan"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "numinozna"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "numinozno"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity",
      "word": "numinoso"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
      "word": "mystinen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
      "word": "numinos"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
      "word": "misztikus"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
      "word": "titokzatos"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "numinozan"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "numinozna"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "evoking a sense of the mystical — see also awe-inspiring",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "numinozno"
    }
  ],
  "word": "numinous"
}

Download raw JSONL data for numinous meaning in English (11.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.