auspicious

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɔːˈspɪʃəs/ UK /ɔːˈspɪʃəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
giving promise of success; favourable

They chose an auspicious date for the wedding.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · giving promise of success;... favorable promising propitious fortunate opportune encouraging timely lucky

Opposites

inauspicious unfavorable ominous unlucky unpromisingill-fated

Word family

Forms auspiciousness

Derived forms auspiciouslyauspiciousness

Related forms auspiceauspex

Simplified etymology

Auspicious dates from the late 16th century and is connected with omen-taking from birds. Latin auspicium meant “taking omens from birds” and, like auspex, came from avis, “bird,” and specere, “to look.” Auspicious accordingly meant “fortunate” or “favourable.”

Etymology

From Latin auspicium ('divination by observing birds') + -ous; from auspex ('bird-watcher, diviner'), itself from avis ('bird') + specere ('to look at').

auspicium Latin avis Old French specere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# auspicious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɔːˈspɪʃəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ɔːˈspɪʃəs/

## Meanings
1. giving promise of success; favourable

## Examples
- They chose an auspicious date for the wedding.

## Synonyms
- favorable
- promising
- propitious
- fortunate
- opportune
- encouraging
- timely
- lucky

## Antonyms
- inauspicious
- unfavorable
- ominous
- unlucky
- unpromising
- ill-fated

## Derived Forms
- auspiciously
- auspiciousness

## Related Forms
- auspice
- auspex

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: auspicium
- Root: avis
- Root: specere - to look at

## Etymology
From Latin auspicium ('divination by observing birds') + -ous; from auspex ('bird-watcher, diviner'), itself from avis ('bird') + specere ('to look at').

## AI Etymology
Auspicious is from Latin auspicium ('divination by observing birds') + -ous; from auspex ('bird-watcher, diviner'), itself from avis ('bird') + specere ('to look at'). Important recorded forms include auspicium (Latin), avis (Latin), and specere (Latin). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers giving promise of success; favourable. The wider family includes derived forms such as auspiciously and auspiciousness and related words such as auspice and auspex.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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