oracle

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oracle

one who is wise, authoritative, or highly regarded; a divine revelation

Not to be confused with:

auricle – outer portion of the ear; a part resembling an ear

or·a·cle

(ôr′ə-kəl, ŏr′-)

a. A shrine consecrated to the worship and consultation of a prophetic deity, as that of Apollo at Delphi.

b. A person, such as a priestess, through whom a deity is held to respond when consulted.

c. The response given through such a medium, often in the form of an enigmatic statement or allegory.

a. A person considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinions.

b. An authoritative or wise statement or prediction.

3. A command or revelation from God.

4. In the Bible, the sanctuary of the Temple.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ōrāculum, from ōrāre, to speak.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

oracle

(ˈɒrəkəl)

1. (Other Non-Christian Religions) a prophecy, often obscure or allegorical, revealed through the medium of a priest or priestess at the shrine of a god

2. (Other Non-Christian Religions) a shrine at which an oracular god is consulted

3. (Other Non-Christian Religions) an agency through which a prophecy is transmitted

4. any person or thing believed to indicate future action with infallible authority

5. a statement believed to be infallible and authoritative

6. (Bible) Bible

a. a message from God

b. the holy of holies in the Israelite temple

[C14: via Old French from Latin ōrāculum, from ōrāre to request]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

or•a•cle

(ˈɔr ə kəl, ˈɒr-)

n.

1. (esp. in the ancient world)

a. a shrine at which inquiries are made of a particular deity through a means of divination.

b. the agency by which the inquiry is answered, as a priest or priestess.

c. the typically terse, ambiguous response of the deity.

2. a person who delivers authoritative and usu. influential pronouncements.

3. any utterance regarded as authoritative, unquestionably wise, or infallible.

4. the holy of holies of the Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem. I Kings 6:16, 19–23.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Old French < Latin ōrāculum divine utterance <ōrā(re) to supplicate, pray to]

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Noun	1.	oracle - an authoritative person who divines the future prophesier, prophet, vaticinator, seer augur, auspex - (ancient Rome) a religious official who interpreted omens to guide public policy diviner - someone who claims to discover hidden knowledge with the aid of supernatural powers prophetess - a woman prophet sibyl - (ancient Rome) a woman who was regarded as an oracle or prophet
	2.	oracle - a prophecy (usually obscure or allegorical) revealed by a priest or priestess; believed to be infallible divination, prophecy - a prediction uttered under divine inspiration
	3.	oracle - a shrine where an oracular god is consulted shrine - a place of worship hallowed by association with some sacred thing or person

oracle

noun

1. prophet, diviner, sage, seer, clairvoyant, augur, soothsayer, sibyl, prophesier Ancient peoples consulted the oracle and the shaman for advice.

2. prophecy, vision, revelation, forecast, prediction, divination, prognostication, augury, divine utterance Aeneas had begged the Sybil to speak her oracle in words.

3. authority, judge, expert, source, professional, master, specialist, adviser, scholar, guru, mentor, pundit, wizard, mastermind, connoisseur, arbiter, high priest, horse's mouth, fundi (S. African) He is the oracle on modern etiquette.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

oracle

noun

Something that is foretold by or as if by supernatural means:

divination, prophecy, soothsaying, vaticination, vision.

Translations

Spanish / Español

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oráculo

oracle

[ˈɒrəkl] N → oráculo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

oracle

(ˈorəkl) noun

1. a very knowledgeable person. I don't know the answer to this problem, so I'd better go and ask the oracle.oráculo

2. in former times, a holy place where a god was believed to give answers to questions. the oracle at Delphi.oráculo

References in classic literature ?

To Laius, King of Thebes, an oracle foretold that the child born to him by his queen Jocasta would slay his father and wed his mother.

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But Oedipus, instructed by an oracle that he had reached his final resting-place, refuses to stir, and the stranger consents to go and consult the Elders of Colonus (the Chorus of the Play).

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Anne, in the months before Little Jem's coming, had pored diligently over several wise volumes, and pinned her faith to one in especial, "Sir Oracle on the Care and Training of Children." Sir Oracle implored parents by all they held sacred never to talk "baby talk" to their children.

When Gilbert teased her she laughed Sir Oracle to scorn.

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But, when thou hast laid thy mother in the earth, then go, my son, to Delphi, and inquire of the oracle what thou shalt do next."

After performing this last sorrowful duty, he set forth alone, and took the road towards the famous oracle of Delphi, as Telephassa had advised him.

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More suspicious is the statement that Socrates received the first impulse to his favourite calling of cross-examining the world from the Oracle of Delphi; for he must already have been famous before Chaerephon went to consult the Oracle (Riddell), and the story is of a kind which is very likely to have been invented.

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As to temples for public worship, and the hall for the public tables of the chief magistrates, they ought to be built in proper places, and contiguous to each other, except those temples which the law or the oracle orders to be separate from all other buildings; and let these be in such a conspicuous eminence, that they may have every advantage of situation, and in the neighbourhood of that part of the city which is best fortified.

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The fact that the oracle for some reason ordered him to go there, is outside the general plan of the play.

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And there upon its border is built a city, Dodona (62); and Zeus loved it and (appointed) it to be his oracle, reverenced by men....

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By them I lost not what I lost; rather by them I gained what I have gained, and with them dwell Copartner in these regions of the World, If not disposer--lend them oft my aid, Oft my advice by presages and signs, And answers, oracles, portents, and dreams, Whereby they may direct their future life.

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I MEAN not to speak of divine prophecies; nor of heathen oracles; nor of natural predictions; but only of prophecies that have been of certain memory, and from hidden causes.

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