numinous

play

adjective nu·mi·nous \ ˈnü-mə-nəs , ˈnyü- \

Updated on: 9 Aug 2017

Definition of numinous

1 :supernatural, mysterious

2 :filled with a sense of the presence of divinity :holy

3 :appealing to the higher emotions or to the aesthetic sense :spiritual

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numinousness

play \ˈnü-mə-nəs-nəs, ˈnyü-\ noun

See numinous defined for English-language learners

numinous was our Word of the Day on 07/28/2016. Hear the podcast!

Examples of numinous in a Sentence

Her poetry is filled with a numinous beauty.
some have sensed a numinous energy in the landscape around Sedona, Arizona

Recent Examples of numinous from the Web

There’s a place among the numinous for the right kind of mortal, and Rupert makes a tentative, if ugly, living here and on the edges of Kuala Lumpur’s underworld.

— New York Times, "Ghosts, Warring Gods and the Apocalypse: The Best of New Science Fiction and Fantasy," 18 May 2017
Closer in spirit to the work of the naturalist Rick Bass than to the hard-drinking tales of Caroline Knapp or Augusten Burroughs, the book becomes a personal travelogue of the Orkneys, their numinous geology and mystical history.

— New York Times, "10 New Books We Recommend This Week," 4 May 2017
The music demonstrated Byrne’s facility in different genres, and included elements of pop, jazz, and reggae, though Timbers likened its predominant mood to the numinous Nordic rock of the band Sigur Rós.

— rebecca mead, The New Yorker, "A Protest Musical for the Trump Era," 20 Mar. 2017
His desire is to show the ever-so-slightly numinous in the ordinary.

— alexis soloski, New York Times, "Subscribe to the Theater Newsletter," 11 Jan. 2017
Simon McBurney’s hypnotic, sui generis performance piece — which recreates an American photographer’s numinous visit to the Amazon River Basin — hooks its audience by the ears.

— ben brantley and scott heller, New York Times, "Books and Museum Treats for Art Lovers NOV. 24, 2016," 24 Nov. 2016

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

numinous and Supernatural

Numinous is from the Latin word numen, meaning "divine will" or "nod" (it suggests a figurative nodding, of assent or of command, of the divine head). English speakers have been using numen for centuries with the meaning "a spiritual force or influence." We began using numinous in the mid-1600s, subsequently endowing it with several senses: "supernatural" or "mysterious" (as in "possessed of a numinous energy force"), "holy" (as in "the numinous atmosphere of the catacombs"), and "appealing to the aesthetic sense" (as in "the numinous nuances of her art"). We also created the nouns numinousness and numinosity, although these are rare.