augury

noun

au·gu·ry | \ ˈȯ-gyə-rē

, -gə-\

plural auguries

Definition of augury

1 : divination from auspices (see auspice sense 3) or omens Ancient augury involved the interpretation of the flight patterns of birds. also : an instance of this

2 : omen, portent " … the best augury of a man's success in his profession is that he thinks it the finest in the world."— George Eliot

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Examples of augury in a Sentence

a yearbook augury that of all the graduates, he would be the most likely to succeed some people believe that a broken mirror is an augury of seven years' bad luck

Recent Examples on the Web

For Petrobras, the explanation is that its share price had already sunk before the car-wash affair began in earnest, reflecting cost overruns that were an augury of the epic mismanagement that the scandal revealed. — The Economist, "Getting a handle on a scandal," 28 Mar. 2018 His use of color was as well known among painters as his mercurial and erratic personality, and scholars, including Wolanin, increasingly see his late work as a major augury of abstraction expressionism. — Stephan Salisbury, Philly.com, "Woodmere acquires vast trove of Arthur Carles' art," 5 June 2018 Partisans from both sides see encouraging auguries. — The Economist, "We think the Democrats are favoured to take the House," 26 May 2018 The horrific aftermath of Hurricane Maria might almost be considered an augury of what that would look like, every day. — The Economist, "America has let down its Puerto Rican citizens," 12 Apr. 2018 That augury led him, a year later, to end all legal sanctions on the public profession of Christianity. — George Weigel, WSJ, "The Easter Effect and How It Changed the World," 30 Mar. 2018 The scene makes for a gruesome tableau, especially because of its intimacy (death often comes in close-up here), and because of the blood that splatters across Dominika, an augury of the lurid, messy violence to come. — Manohla Dargis, New York Times, "Review: ‘Red Sparrow’ Has Spies, Lies and Dirty Dancing," 1 Mar. 2018 These developments—and the company’s prodigious burn rate, an estimated $8,000 per minute—have brought out the three-eyed ravens squawking auguries of doom. — Dan Neil, WSJ, "How Tesla Electrified Rivals at the L.A. Auto Show," 8 Dec. 2017 Well, how about an augury of death to top things off: the image of its star, Jennifer Lawrence, burning in flames. — Laura Beck, Cosmopolitan, "13 Times Critics Couldn't Believe How Weird JLaw's New Movie Mother! Is," 12 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'augury.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.