numinous

adjective

nu·mi·nous ˈnü-mə-nəs

ˈnyü-

Synonyms of numinous next

: supernatural, mysterious

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

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

numinousness

ˈnü-mə-nəs-nəs

ˈnyü-

noun

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Numinous and Supernatural

When people of the 1600s were ruminating on an adjective to reflect their awe of the mystical and supernatural elements of their experiences, they gave the nod to numinous, and quite aptly so. Numinous comes from the Latin word numen, which can mean both “a nod of the head” and “divine will,” the latter sense suggesting a figurative divine nod indicating approval or command. (English users were already using the noun numen, a direct borrowing from Latin, to refer to a spiritual force or influence associated with a particular place or phenomenon.) Numinous is not a common or everyday word, which seems fitting for one used to describe what is far from quotidian, and instead part of the realm of the spiritual, the holy, or the transcendent.

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 on the Web

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Like Dyer’s, Emily Dickinson’s mind to her a kingdom was: an unbounded place of observation and synthesis, a numinous space illuminated by mysteries of matter and spirit alike. —

Heather Wilhelm, National Review, 25 July 2024 Pisces is ruled by numinous Neptune, which is why they’re often described as ethereal and out of this world. —

Valerie Mesa, Peoplemag, 18 May 2024 And Gush Emunim’s numinous views have morphed into something arguably darker than mere theocracy—views comprehensively documented by Yair Nehorai, a civil-rights attorney, in his 2022 book The Third Revolution (available only in Hebrew). —

Jordan Castro, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024 Among the drawings encountered just after Chocolate Room is Unidentified Hit Record, where a black vinyl LP hovers like a six-track mandala amid a numinous light show. —

Susan Tallman, The New York Review of Books, 2 Nov. 2023 See all Example Sentences for numinous