9 September 2015

numinous

[noo-muh-nuh s, nyoo-]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or like a numen; spiritual or supernatural.
2. surpassing comprehension or understanding; mysterious:
that element in artistic expression that remains numinous.
3. arousing one’s elevated feelings of duty, honor, loyalty, etc.:
a benevolent and numinous paternity.

Origin of numinous

Latin

1640-1650; < Latin nūmin- (stem of nūmen) numen + -ous

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for numinous

Contemporary Examples

They have had a spiritual or numinous or paranormal experience at some point in their own lives.
Eben Alexander Has a GPS for Heaven
Patricia Pearson
October 7, 2014

JML: Well, they reveal that he lived in a numinous world where there were forces all around him.
Murder, Sex, and the Writing Life: Norman Mailer’s Biography
Ronald K. Fried
November 18, 2013

Anagram

sum union
I sumo nun

Today’s quote

I like people who shake other people up and make them feel uncomfortable.

– Jim Morrison

On this day

9 September 1543 – Mary Stuart crowned ‘Queen of Scots’. She was 9 months old.

9 September 1828 – birth of Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer, (‘Anna Karenina‘, ‘War and Peace‘). Died 20 November 1910.

9 September 1890 – birth of Harlan Sanders who eventually becomes a Colonel and chickens throughout Kentucky, and ultimately the rest of the world, are never the same again as he invents Kentucky Fried Chicken. Died 16 December 1980.

9 September 2004 – Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, bombed. 10 people killed.