See writing on the wall in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for writing on the wall meaning in English (6.8kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "arc",
"2": "מְנֵא מְנֵא תְּקֵל וּפַרְסִין",
"3": "",
"4": "numbered, numbered, weighed, and they are divided",
"tr": "mənē mənē təqēl ūp̄arsīn"
},
"expansion": "מְנֵא מְנֵא תְּקֵל וּפַרְסִין (mənē mənē təqēl ūp̄arsīn, “numbered, numbered, weighed, and they are divided”)",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From the Biblical story in Daniel 5, where, during a feast held by King Belshazzar, a hand suddenly appears and writes on a wall the following Aramaic words: מְנֵא מְנֵא תְּקֵל וּפַרְסִין (mənē mənē təqēl ūp̄arsīn, “numbered, numbered, weighed, and they are divided”) (Daniel 5:25). Daniel interprets the words as pointing to the downfall of the Babylonian Empire.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "writings on the wall",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "writings on walls",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
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"head_templates": [
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"1": "~",
"2": "writings on the wall",
"3": "writings on walls"
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"expansion": "writing on the wall (countable and uncountable, plural writings on the wall or writings on walls)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"writ‧ing"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
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"examples": [
{
"text": "He could see the writing on the wall months before the business failed.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1965, Noël Coward, “Note on ‘The Sixties’”, in The Lyrics, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 361",
"text": "However, regardless of evil portents, prophetic despair and a great deal too much writing on the wall, I have managed so far to write two fairly cheerful musical comedies.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, M. P. Prabhakaran, “Goa was Not a Settler Colony as Falkland is”, in Letters on India The New York Times Did Not Publish, Pittsburgh, Pa.: RoseDog Books, page 43",
"text": "The Portuguese refused to read the writings on the wall and clung to their colonies, including the one in India.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2012, Jan Nederveen Pieterse, “Global Rebalancing: Crisis and the East-South Turn”, in Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Jongtae Kim, editors, Globalization and Development in East Asia (Routledge Studies in Emerging Societies; 2), New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, page 36",
"text": "Without a doubt these trends represent the \"next big thing\". Consider a sampling of recent headlines as writings on the wall: […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Daniel Carnahan, The Manipulator, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Trafford Publishing, page 594",
"text": "Don't you see the implications and writings on the wall for our family's future?",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014 September 15, Rhonda Cook, “Regulator may push for state-mandated Taser training”, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, archived from the original on 2016-10-25",
"text": "It gets to the point to where you see so much writing on the wall where we may not have a choice but to step in and say 'yes, you will train every year and you'll report that training to POST' in order for things to be done right.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2022 February 23, Benedict le Vay, “Part of rail's past... present... and future”, in RAIL, number 951, pages 53–54",
"text": "As a railwayman put it to me: \"When I saw chums of mine took their families down there by car, I could see the writing on the wall. We all had free passes, yet they got the car out!\"",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An ominous warning; a prediction of bad luck."
],
"id": "en-writing_on_the_wall-en-noun-dO3WVjO7",
"links": [
[
"ominous",
"ominous"
],
[
"warning",
"warning"
],
[
"prediction",
"prediction"
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[
"bad luck",
"bad luck"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) An ominous warning; a prediction of bad luck."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "the writing is on the wall"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "handwriting on the wall"
}
],
"tags": [
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],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"word": "厄运的征兆"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "skriften på væggen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "vaaran merkit"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Menetekel"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "pronostico"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "presagio"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "premonizione"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "predizione"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "mene tekel"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"masculine"
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"word": "skriften på veggen"
},
{
"code": "nn",
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"neuter"
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{
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "skrifta på veggen"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Belshazzar",
"National Gallery",
"Rembrandt"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈɹaɪtɪŋ ɒn ðə ˈwɔːl/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈɹaɪtɪŋ ɑn ðə ˈwɔl/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"ipa": "[ˈɹaɪ̯ɾɪŋ]",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "en-au-writing on the wall.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/11/En-au-writing_on_the_wall.ogg/En-au-writing_on_the_wall.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/En-au-writing_on_the_wall.ogg",
"tags": [
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],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "writing on the wall"
}
{
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"2": "מְנֵא מְנֵא תְּקֵל וּפַרְסִין",
"3": "",
"4": "numbered, numbered, weighed, and they are divided",
"tr": "mənē mənē təqēl ūp̄arsīn"
},
"expansion": "מְנֵא מְנֵא תְּקֵל וּפַרְסִין (mənē mənē təqēl ūp̄arsīn, “numbered, numbered, weighed, and they are divided”)",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From the Biblical story in Daniel 5, where, during a feast held by King Belshazzar, a hand suddenly appears and writes on a wall the following Aramaic words: מְנֵא מְנֵא תְּקֵל וּפַרְסִין (mənē mənē təqēl ūp̄arsīn, “numbered, numbered, weighed, and they are divided”) (Daniel 5:25). Daniel interprets the words as pointing to the downfall of the Babylonian Empire.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "writings on the wall",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
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{
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"plural"
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}
],
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{
"text": "He could see the writing on the wall months before the business failed.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1965, Noël Coward, “Note on ‘The Sixties’”, in The Lyrics, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 361",
"text": "However, regardless of evil portents, prophetic despair and a great deal too much writing on the wall, I have managed so far to write two fairly cheerful musical comedies.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, M. P. Prabhakaran, “Goa was Not a Settler Colony as Falkland is”, in Letters on India The New York Times Did Not Publish, Pittsburgh, Pa.: RoseDog Books, page 43",
"text": "The Portuguese refused to read the writings on the wall and clung to their colonies, including the one in India.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2012, Jan Nederveen Pieterse, “Global Rebalancing: Crisis and the East-South Turn”, in Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Jongtae Kim, editors, Globalization and Development in East Asia (Routledge Studies in Emerging Societies; 2), New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, page 36",
"text": "Without a doubt these trends represent the \"next big thing\". Consider a sampling of recent headlines as writings on the wall: […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Daniel Carnahan, The Manipulator, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Trafford Publishing, page 594",
"text": "Don't you see the implications and writings on the wall for our family's future?",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014 September 15, Rhonda Cook, “Regulator may push for state-mandated Taser training”, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, archived from the original on 2016-10-25",
"text": "It gets to the point to where you see so much writing on the wall where we may not have a choice but to step in and say 'yes, you will train every year and you'll report that training to POST' in order for things to be done right.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2022 February 23, Benedict le Vay, “Part of rail's past... present... and future”, in RAIL, number 951, pages 53–54",
"text": "As a railwayman put it to me: \"When I saw chums of mine took their families down there by car, I could see the writing on the wall. We all had free passes, yet they got the car out!\"",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An ominous warning; a prediction of bad luck."
],
"links": [
[
"ominous",
"ominous"
],
[
"warning",
"warning"
],
[
"prediction",
"prediction"
],
[
"bad luck",
"bad luck"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) An ominous warning; a prediction of bad luck."
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"idiomatic",
"uncountable"
],
"wikipedia": [
"Belshazzar",
"National Gallery",
"Rembrandt"
]
}
],
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"ipa": "/ˈɹaɪtɪŋ ɒn ðə ˈwɔːl/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈɹaɪtɪŋ ɑn ðə ˈwɔl/",
"tags": [
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]
},
{
"ipa": "[ˈɹaɪ̯ɾɪŋ]",
"tags": [
"General-American"
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"audio": "en-au-writing on the wall.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/11/En-au-writing_on_the_wall.ogg/En-au-writing_on_the_wall.ogg.mp3",
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"tags": [
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"synonyms": [
{
"word": "handwriting on the wall"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"word": "厄运的征兆"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "skriften på væggen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "vaaran merkit"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Menetekel"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "pronostico"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "presagio"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "premonizione"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "predizione"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "mene tekel"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "skriften på veggen"
},
{
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "mene tekel"
},
{
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "ominous warning",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "skrifta på veggen"
}
],
"word": "writing on the wall"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.