Word of the Day
: March 28, 2016auspicious
playWhat It Means
1 : showing or suggesting that future success is likely : propitious
2 : attended by good fortune : prosperous
auspicious in Context
Being nominated for four awards, including Best Picture, the movie proved to be an auspicious start to his directing career.
"In Chinese lobster is called 'long xia,' or dragon prawn, which has an auspicious ring to it." — The Economist, 13 Feb. 2016
Did You Know?
Auspicious comes from Latin auspex, which literally means "bird seer" (from the words avis, meaning "bird," and specere, meaning "to look at"). In ancient Rome, these "bird seers" were priests, or augurs, who studied the flight and feeding patterns of birds, then delivered prophecies based on their observations. The right combination of bird behavior indicated favorable conditions, but the wrong patterns spelled trouble. The English noun auspice, which originally referred to this practice of observing birds to discover omens, also comes from Latin auspex. Today, the plural form auspices is often used with the meaning "kindly patronage and guidance."
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Word Family Quiz
Fill in the blanks to create a word that is derived from Latin specere and refers to an illustration facing the title page of a book: f _ o _ t _ s _ i _ _e.
VIEW THE ANSWER
