oracle

See also: Oracle

English

Etymology

From Middle English oracle, from Old French oracle, from Latin ōrāculum.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɔɹəkəl/, /ˈɒɹəkəl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Homophone: auricle

Noun

oracle (plural oracles)

  1. A shrine dedicated to some prophetic deity.
    • Milton:
      The oracles are dumb; / No voice or hideous hum / Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.
  2. A person such as a priest through whom the deity is supposed to respond with prophecy or advice.
  3. A prophetic response, often enigmatic or allegorical, so given.
    • Drayton:
      Whatso'er she saith, for oracles must stand.
  4. A person considered to be a source of wisdom.
    a literary oracle
    • Macaulay:
      The country rectors […] thought him an oracle on points of learning.
    • Tennyson:
      oracles of mode
  5. A wise sentence or decision of great authority.
  6. One who communicates a divine command; an angel; a prophet.
    • Milton:
      God hath now sent his living oracle / Into the world to teach his final will.
  7. (computing theory) A theoretical entity capable of answering some collection of questions.
  8. (Jewish antiquity) The sanctuary, or most holy place in the temple; also, the temple itself.
    • Milton:
      Siloa's brook, that flow'd / Fast by the oracle of God.
    • Bible, 1 Kings 6:19, King James Version:
      And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

Synonyms

  • (priest acting as conduit of prophecy): prophet
  • (person who is a source of wisdom): expert

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

oracle (third-person singular simple present oracles, present participle oracling, simple past and past participle oracled)

  1. (obsolete) To utter oracles or prophecies.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for oracle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Translations

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin oraculum.

Pronunciation

  • (Balearic) IPA(key): /oˈɾa.klə/
  • (Central) IPA(key): /uˈɾa.klə/
  • (Valencian) IPA(key): /oˈɾa.kle/

Noun

oracle m (plural oracles)

  1. oracle

Further reading

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ōrāculum.

Noun

oracle m (plural oracles)

  1. oracle

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French oracle, from Latin ōrāculum.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɔːˈraːkəl/

Noun

oracle (plural oracles)

  1. (Late ME) A shrine where hidden religious knowledge is imparted.
  2. (Late ME, rare) A heavenly or godly message.

Descendants

References

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