In ancient Rome, augurs were official diviners whose function it was to divine whether the gods approved of a proposed undertaking, such as a military move. They did so by various means, among them observing the behavior of birds and examining the entrails of sacrificed animals. We doubt the Romans predicted that augur would eventuate into a verb meaning “presage or foretell,” but in retrospect, augur’s path must have been in the stars.

Examples of augur in a Sentence

Noun ancient Roman augurs who predicted the future by reading the flight of birds Verb The decision doesn't augur well. the extended interview augurs well for your acceptance into that law school

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Noun

The ancient Romans consulted augurs, who discerned the future by studying the behavior of birds. —

Matthew Continetti, National Review, 26 Oct. 2024 No reliable augurs of a coming bear market are in evidence: S & P up 10 of 11 months, making a new high in September, credit spreads resolutely narrow, all point to an upside bias over a span of months, at least. —

Michael Santoli, CNBC, 26 Oct. 2024

Verb

Anyone wondering if the collaboration might augur a crossover into more mainstream arthouse territory will be swiftly put right in the film’s alternately oblique and explicit introductory minutes. —

Guy Lodge, Variety, 5 Sep. 2024 In the Peach State contests pitting Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Purdue respectively against Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, the polls held a week before Election Day augured that both GOP candidates would win comfortably, in a twofer securing the party’s control of the upper chamber. —

Shawn Tully, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for augur

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English augurre, augure, borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French augure, borrowed from Latin augur, perhaps going back to *aug-u-s "the increased, one who receives the signs of increase," noun derivative of an s-stem adjective *aug-u-s "increased, grown," derivative of a u-stem adjective *aug-u- with the same sense, derivative from the base of augeō, augēre "to increase, make greater, heighten" — more at eke entry 2

Note: Though a connection has long been sought between the noun augur and the verb augēre, as well as with the adjective augustus "solemn, venerable" (see august), the semantic and morphological details are elusive. The above etymology was proposed by Michael Weiss in "Observations of the Prehistory of Latin augur," Alessandria 5 (2011), Atti del Convegno Internazionale … in memoriam Helmut Rix, pp. 365-79. As a morphological point of comparison for the derivation of augur, Weiss points to Latin vetus, veteris "old, veteran," which, if derived from an original u-stem adjective *u̯etu-, could be plausibly linked to Lithuanian vẽtušas and Old Church Slavic vetŭxŭ, both meaning "old."

Verb

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French augurer, borrowed from Latin augurāre, augurārī "to foretell by augury, take auspices, prophesy, predict," derivative of augur augur entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1593, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of augur was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century

Articles Related to augur

If You Like to Complain About...

You'll love to hate these other words!

'Augur' or 'Auger'?

How to decipher signs of their confusion

The Origin of 'Inaugurate'

What does 'inaugurate' have to do with interpreting omens?

Cite this Entry

Style

“Augur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/augur. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

Copy Citation

Kids Definition

augur

1 of 2 noun

au·gur ˈȯ-gər

: a person (as in ancient Rome) who foretells the future by omens

augur

2 of 2 verb

: to predict from signs or omens

: to give promise of

this augurs well for the future

Last Updated: 9 Nov 2024 - Updated example sentences

Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the Day

victuals

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

augur

noun

verb

Did you know?

Synonyms

Examples of augur in a Sentence

Word History

Podcast

Dictionary Entries Near augur

Cite this Entry

Kids Definition