oracularadj.

Brit.

/ɒˈrakjᵿlə/,

/əˈrakjᵿlə/,

/ɔːˈrakjᵿlə/, U.S.

/ɔˈrækjələr/

Origin: A borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element. Etymons: Latin ōrāculum , -ar suffix¹.

Etymology: < classical Latin ōrāculum oracle n. + -ar suffix¹. (Classical Latin had a rare ōrāculārius (apparently) dealing in oracles, the English representation of which would be *oraculary .) Compare Middle French, French oraculaire (isolated attestations in the late 16th and early 17th cent. (1596, 1611); subsequently from 1832). Compare earlier oraculous adj.

a. Of the nature of an oracle, or of an inspired, divinely authoritative, or infallible statement.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > truthfulness, veracity > [adjective] > of statement: agreeing with reality

soothlyc888

soothfastc950

truea1250

very1303

strait1340

honesta1400

soothfulc1400

precisec1443

veritable1474

just1490

perfect1523

faithful1529

sincere1555

unmangled1557

truthful?1567

neat1571

oraculous1612

punctual1620

oracular1631

unvamped1639

strict1645

unembroidered1649

ungarbled1721

unexaggerated1770

veracious1777

unfictitious1835

unexaggeratinga1854

uncooked1860

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective]

pythonical1582

oraculous1612

theomantic1620

oracular1631

pythonic1658

1631 R. Brathwait Whimzies iii. 15 The vulgar doe admire him, holding his Novels oracular.

1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 206 He has left some Oracular Records wherein a man may read..the State and Condition of the Church.

1702 S. Parker tr. Cicero Five Bks. De Finibus ii. 137 He had stamp'd it upon your minds for an Oracular Truth, that nothing after Death can have any effect upon us.

1777 D. Garrick Let. 16 June (1963) III. 1168 A Word from You is oracular & decides the business.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xix. 353 Whatever he said or wrote was considered as oracular by his disciples.

1886 F. W. Farrar Hist. Interpr. vii. 366 Scripture was declared to be a sort of oracular teraph.

1927 W. Cather Death comes for Archbishop v. ii. 173 These sayings no matter how unimportant, were given oracular significance.

1992 New Scientist 24 Oct. 45/2 Given to oracular utterances, and requiring a rigour of proof from his opponents that he seldom produced himself.

b. Resembling the ancient oracles in mystery, ambiguity, or sententiousness.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [adjective]

higheOE

dighela1000

deepc1000

darkOE

starkOE

dusk?c1225

subtle1340

dimc1350

subtilea1393

covert1393

mystica1398

murka1400

cloudyc1400

hard?c1400

mistyc1400

unclearc1400

diffuse1430

abstractc1450

diffused?1456

exquisitec1460

obnubilous?a1475

obscure?a1475

covered1484

intricate?a1500

nice?a1500

perplexeda1500

difficilea1513

difficult1530

privy1532

smoky1533

secret1535

abstruse?1549

difficul1552

entangled1561

confounded1572

darksome1574

obnubilate1575

enigmatical1576

confuse1577

mysteriousa1586

Delphic1598

obfuscatea1600

enfumed1601

Delphicala1603

obstruse1604

abstracted1605

confused1611

questionable1611

inevident1614

recondite1619

cryptic1620

obfuscated1620

transcendent1624

Delphian1625

oraculous1625

enigmatic1628

recluse1629

abdite1635

undilucidated1635

clouded1641

benighted1647

oblite1650

researched1653

obnubilated1658

obscurative1664

tenebrose1677

hyperbyssal1691

condite1695

diffusive1709

profound1710

tenebricose1730

oracular1749

opaque1761

unenlightening1768

darkling1795

offuscating1798

unrecognizable1817

tough1820

abstrusive1848

obscurant1878

out-of-focus1891

unplumbable1895

inenubilable1903

non-transparent1939

1749 Visct. Bolingbroke Lett. Spirit Patriotism 240 Such expressions were often used,..and I believe these oracular speeches were interpreted, as oracles used to be, according as every man's inclinations led him.

1756 S. Foote Englishman return'd from Paris i. 11 The Law is an oracular Idol, you are..explanatory Ministers.

1845 B. Disraeli Sybil III. v. x. 129 ‘The deuce!’ said the Dandy, who did not clearly comprehend the bent of the observation of his much pondering..friend, but was touched by its oracular terseness.

1904 J. London Sea-wolf iv. 43 I could see Charley,..delivering himself of oracular and pessimistic epigrams.

1960 Guardian 27 July 9/1 M. Nkayi merely read out a vague, almost oracular statement... He then fell delphically silent.

1987 J. Barth Tidewater Tales (1988) 598 Dunyazade's ambiguous, oracular remark, with whose sense she had been wrestling.

†c. Of mysterious portent; ominous, portentous. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > inauspicious

perilousc1390

unlucky1519

unchancy1533

unhappy1533

infortunate1548

sinistrous?c1550

luckless1584

dismal1588

ominous1589

fatal1590

bad-bodinga1592

disastrous1598

inauspicious1599

black1604

naught1620

inauspicate1632

infaustous1656

infaust1658

ill-omened1685

black boding1743

wanchancy1768

oracular1820

inominous1832

widdershins1926

1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus ii. 41 These prodigies are oracular, and show The presence of the unseen Deity.

1821 Ld. Byron Marino Faliero (2nd issue) iv. ii. 120 Where swings the sullen huge oracular bell, Which never knells but for a princely death.

d. Chiefly of a person: that delivers oracles or oracular responses.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] > of person: uttering as an oracle

oracling1584

oraculous1606

oracular1821

1821 D. Stewart Diss. Progress Philos. ii. v. 352 In his [sc. Dr. Law's] original speculations, he is weak, paradoxical, and oracular.

1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Devereux I. i. xi. 119 Morton, you are quite oracular.

1863 W. Phillips Speeches xiv. 299 The oracular press lays down the law.

1865 G. Grote Plato II. xxi. 11 Like prophets and oracular ministers.

c1913 C. Porter Lyrics (1983) 5/3 The girls would write for my autograph,..Were I an oracular, Very spectacular, Regular football King.

1992 English 41 176 Blake's Milton and Jerusalem, like Wordsworth's Prelude, establish the poet as an oracular speaker.

2. Of or relating to an oracle; that is the site or medium of an oracle, or of direct divine communications.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] > relating to an oracle

oraculous1604

oracular1633

1633 G. Herbert Temple: Sacred Poems 189 From Egypt he took pettie deities, From Greece oracular infallibilities, And from old Rome the libertie of pleasure.

1678 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Oracular, belonging to, or having the authority of an Oracle.

1745 E. Young Consolation 53 The Breast-plate of the true High-Priest, Ardent with Gems oracular, that give, In Points of highest Moment, right Response.

1774 J. Bryant New Syst. (new ed.) I. 254 Its guardian Deity, whose orgies were there celebrated; and whose shrine was oracular.

1781 W. Cowper Truth 389 Once the blest residence of truth divine,..Where, in his own oracular abode, Dwelt visibly the light-creating God.

1853 C. C. Felton Familiar Lett. (1865) xxxvi. 282 An hour more brought us in sight of Delphi,—one of the richest oracular sites in the world.

1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xvi. 281 The fable that the ship Argo was loquacious and oracular.

1871 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture II. 111 This place was celebrated for the worship of Æsculapius, in whose temple incubation, i.e. sleeping for oracular dreams, was practised.

1954 R. B. Onions Origins of European Thought ii. x. 281 Such a seat of inspiration was the oracular omphalos stone, identified with the Earth-goddess at Delphi.

1988 Oxf. Illustr. Encycl. III. 262/1 Apollo was the god most favoured as a giver of oracles though many other deities presided over oracular shrines.

2000 Oldie Dec. 25/3 The oracular Apollo sites of Greece.

3. Delivered, uttered, or decreed by an oracle.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] > uttered by an oracle

oraculous1615

oraculara1678

chrematistical1701

a1678 A. Marvell Dialogue between Two Horses in Poems on Affairs of State I. i. 119 If the Delphick Sybil's Oracular Speeches,..came out of their Breeches, Why might not our Horses, since Words are but Wind, Have the Spirit of Prophecy likewise behind?

a1822 P. B. Shelley Homer's Hymn to Mercury lxxx, in Posthumous Poems (1824) 321 Understood..by thee the mystery Of all oracular fates.

1863 M. Howitt tr. F. Bremer Greece & Greeks II. xvi. 157 Some oracular replies show great political wisdom.

1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets vii. 190 When Oedipus slays his father, he does so in contempt of oracular warnings.

1914 E. Martyn Dream Physician iv.74 Sit upon this modern symbol of a tripod. I shall try to make you deliver oracular utterances, like the priestesses of old.

2000 S. Connor Dumbstruck ix. 222 Synecdochic attribution of oracular responses to ‘the Tripod’ rather than the pythia at Delphi.

Derivatives

oˈracularness n. oracularity. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [noun] > medium or mouthpiece of the deity, oracle > condition of being

oracularness1727

oraculousness1755

oracularity1816

1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Oracularness, the being of the Nature of an Oracle; also the being done by Word of Mouth.

1863 E. C. Gaskell Sylvia's Lovers II. vii. 123 ‘It will noan go on as it is,’ said Alice, with gloomy oracularness.

1891 Illustr. London News Christmas No. 2/3 ‘He's sure to wear a big beard’..said Amos Gunn, with Metropolitan oracularness.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	oracular
释义	oracularadj. Brit. /ɒˈrakjᵿlə/, /əˈrakjᵿlə/, /ɔːˈrakjᵿlə/, U.S. /ɔˈrækjələr/ Origin: A borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element. Etymons: Latin ōrāculum , -ar suffix¹. Etymology: < classical Latin ōrāculum oracle n. + -ar suffix¹. (Classical Latin had a rare ōrāculārius (apparently) dealing in oracles, the English representation of which would be oraculary .) Compare Middle French, French oraculaire* (isolated attestations in the late 16th and early 17th cent. (1596, 1611); subsequently from 1832). Compare earlier oraculous adj. 1. a. Of the nature of an oracle, or of an inspired, divinely authoritative, or infallible statement. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > truthfulness, veracity > [adjective] > of statement: agreeing with reality soothlyc888 soothfastc950 truea1250 very1303 strait1340 honesta1400 soothfulc1400 precisec1443 veritable1474 just1490 perfect1523 faithful1529 sincere1555 unmangled1557 truthful?1567 neat1571 oraculous1612 punctual1620 oracular1631 unvamped1639 strict1645 unembroidered1649 ungarbled1721 unexaggerated1770 veracious1777 unfictitious1835 unexaggeratinga1854 uncooked1860 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] pythonical1582 oraculous1612 theomantic1620 oracular1631 pythonic1658 1631 R. Brathwait Whimzies iii. 15 The vulgar doe admire him, holding his Novels oracular. 1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 206 He has left some Oracular Records wherein a man may read..the State and Condition of the Church. 1702 S. Parker tr. Cicero Five Bks. De Finibus ii. 137 He had stamp'd it upon your minds for an Oracular Truth, that nothing after Death can have any effect upon us. 1777 D. Garrick Let. 16 June (1963) III. 1168 A Word from You is oracular & decides the business. 1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xix. 353 Whatever he said or wrote was considered as oracular by his disciples. 1886 F. W. Farrar Hist. Interpr. vii. 366 Scripture was declared to be a sort of oracular teraph. 1927 W. Cather Death comes for Archbishop v. ii. 173 These sayings no matter how unimportant, were given oracular significance. 1992 New Scientist 24 Oct. 45/2 Given to oracular utterances, and requiring a rigour of proof from his opponents that he seldom produced himself. b. Resembling the ancient oracles in mystery, ambiguity, or sententiousness. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [adjective] higheOE dighela1000 deepc1000 darkOE starkOE dusk?c1225 subtle1340 dimc1350 subtilea1393 covert1393 mystica1398 murka1400 cloudyc1400 hard?c1400 mistyc1400 unclearc1400 diffuse1430 abstractc1450 diffused?1456 exquisitec1460 obnubilous?a1475 obscure?a1475 covered1484 intricate?a1500 nice?a1500 perplexeda1500 difficilea1513 difficult1530 privy1532 smoky1533 secret1535 abstruse?1549 difficul1552 entangled1561 confounded1572 darksome1574 obnubilate1575 enigmatical1576 confuse1577 mysteriousa1586 Delphic1598 obfuscatea1600 enfumed1601 Delphicala1603 obstruse1604 abstracted1605 confused1611 questionable1611 inevident1614 recondite1619 cryptic1620 obfuscated1620 transcendent1624 Delphian1625 oraculous1625 enigmatic1628 recluse1629 abdite1635 undilucidated1635 clouded1641 benighted1647 oblite1650 researched1653 obnubilated1658 obscurative1664 tenebrose1677 hyperbyssal1691 condite1695 diffusive1709 profound1710 tenebricose1730 oracular1749 opaque1761 unenlightening1768 darkling1795 offuscating1798 unrecognizable1817 tough1820 abstrusive1848 obscurant1878 out-of-focus1891 unplumbable1895 inenubilable1903 non-transparent1939 1749 Visct. Bolingbroke Lett. Spirit Patriotism 240 Such expressions were often used,..and I believe these oracular speeches were interpreted, as oracles used to be, according as every man's inclinations led him. 1756 S. Foote Englishman return'd from Paris i. 11 The Law is an oracular Idol, you are..explanatory Ministers. 1845 B. Disraeli Sybil III. v. x. 129 ‘The deuce!’ said the Dandy, who did not clearly comprehend the bent of the observation of his much pondering..friend, but was touched by its oracular terseness. 1904 J. London Sea-wolf iv. 43 I could see Charley,..delivering himself of oracular and pessimistic epigrams. 1960 Guardian 27 July 9/1 M. Nkayi merely read out a vague, almost oracular statement... He then fell delphically silent. 1987 J. Barth Tidewater Tales (1988) 598 Dunyazade's ambiguous, oracular remark, with whose sense she had been wrestling. †c. Of mysterious portent; ominous, portentous. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > inauspicious perilousc1390 unlucky1519 unchancy1533 unhappy1533 infortunate1548 sinistrous?c1550 luckless1584 dismal1588 ominous1589 fatal1590 bad-bodinga1592 disastrous1598 inauspicious1599 black1604 naught1620 inauspicate1632 infaustous1656 infaust1658 ill-omened1685 black boding1743 wanchancy1768 oracular1820 inominous1832 widdershins1926 1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus ii. 41 These prodigies are oracular, and show The presence of the unseen Deity. 1821 Ld. Byron Marino Faliero (2nd issue) iv. ii. 120 Where swings the sullen huge oracular bell, Which never knells but for a princely death. d. Chiefly of a person: that delivers oracles or oracular responses. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] > of person: uttering as an oracle oracling1584 oraculous1606 oracular1821 1821 D. Stewart Diss. Progress Philos. ii. v. 352 In his [sc. Dr. Law's] original speculations, he is weak, paradoxical, and oracular. 1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Devereux I. i. xi. 119 Morton, you are quite oracular. 1863 W. Phillips Speeches xiv. 299 The oracular press lays down the law. 1865 G. Grote Plato II. xxi. 11 Like prophets and oracular ministers. c1913 C. Porter Lyrics (1983) 5/3 The girls would write for my autograph,..Were I an oracular, Very spectacular, Regular football King. 1992 English 41 176 Blake's Milton and Jerusalem, like Wordsworth's Prelude, establish the poet as an oracular speaker. 2. Of or relating to an oracle; that is the site or medium of an oracle, or of direct divine communications. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] > relating to an oracle oraculous1604 oracular1633 1633 G. Herbert Temple: Sacred Poems 189 From Egypt he took pettie deities, From Greece oracular infallibilities, And from old Rome the libertie of pleasure. 1678 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Oracular, belonging to, or having the authority of an Oracle. 1745 E. Young Consolation 53 The Breast-plate of the true High-Priest, Ardent with Gems oracular, that give, In Points of highest Moment, right Response. 1774 J. Bryant New Syst. (new ed.) I. 254 Its guardian Deity, whose orgies were there celebrated; and whose shrine was oracular. 1781 W. Cowper Truth 389 Once the blest residence of truth divine,..Where, in his own oracular abode, Dwelt visibly the light-creating God. 1853 C. C. Felton Familiar Lett. (1865) xxxvi. 282 An hour more brought us in sight of Delphi,—one of the richest oracular sites in the world. 1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xvi. 281 The fable that the ship Argo was loquacious and oracular. 1871 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture II. 111 This place was celebrated for the worship of Æsculapius, in whose temple incubation, i.e. sleeping for oracular dreams, was practised. 1954 R. B. Onions Origins of European Thought ii. x. 281 Such a seat of inspiration was the oracular omphalos stone, identified with the Earth-goddess at Delphi. 1988 Oxf. Illustr. Encycl. III. 262/1 Apollo was the god most favoured as a giver of oracles though many other deities presided over oracular shrines. 2000 Oldie Dec. 25/3 The oracular Apollo sites of Greece. 3. Delivered, uttered, or decreed by an oracle. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] > uttered by an oracle oraculous1615 oraculara1678 chrematistical1701 a1678 A. Marvell Dialogue between Two Horses in Poems on Affairs of State I. i. 119 If the Delphick Sybil's Oracular Speeches,..came out of their Breeches, Why might not our Horses, since Words are but Wind, Have the Spirit of Prophecy likewise behind? a1822 P. B. Shelley Homer's Hymn to Mercury lxxx, in Posthumous Poems (1824) 321 Understood..by thee the mystery Of all oracular fates. 1863 M. Howitt tr. F. Bremer Greece & Greeks II. xvi. 157 Some oracular replies show great political wisdom. 1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets vii. 190 When Oedipus slays his father, he does so in contempt of oracular warnings. 1914 E. Martyn Dream Physician iv.74 Sit upon this modern symbol of a tripod. I shall try to make you deliver oracular utterances, like the priestesses of old. 2000 S. Connor Dumbstruck ix. 222 Synecdochic attribution of oracular responses to ‘the Tripod’ rather than the pythia at Delphi. Derivatives oˈracularness n. oracularity. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [noun] > medium or mouthpiece of the deity, oracle > condition of being oracularness1727 oraculousness1755 oracularity1816 1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Oracularness, the being of the Nature of an Oracle; also the being done by Word of Mouth. 1863 E. C. Gaskell Sylvia's Lovers II. vii. 123 ‘It will noan go on as it is,’ said Alice, with gloomy oracularness. 1891 Illustr. London News Christmas No. 2/3 ‘He's sure to wear a big beard’..said Amos Gunn, with Metropolitan oracularness. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < adj.1631
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