numinous
adjEtymology
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”)).
Definitions
Of or relating to a numen (divinity)
Of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity.
- His interest in numinous objects led him on a quest for the Holy Grail.
- 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.
- He held his own body in numinous esteem.
Evoking a sense of the mystical, sublime, or transcendent
Evoking a sense of the mystical, sublime, or transcendent; awe-inspiring.
- 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: […]
- [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.
The neighborhood
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for numinous. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA