Numen

Word NUMEN
Character 5
Hyphenation N/A
Pronunciations /ˈnjuː.mən/

Definitions and meanings of "Numen"

What do we mean by numen?

A presiding divinity or spirit of a place. noun

A spirit believed by animists to inhabit certain natural phenomena or objects. noun

Creative energy; genius. noun

Divinity; deity; godhead.

A divinity, especially a local or presiding god noun

A spirit believed to inhabit an object or preside over a place (especially in ancient Roman religion) noun

A divinity, especially a local or presiding god.

An influence or phenomenon at once mystical and transcendant.

Synonyms and Antonyms for Numen

  • Synonyms for numen
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  • Antonyms for numen
  • Numen antonyms not found!

The word "numen" in example sentences

For it was an attempt to supersede the ancient religious life of that State by _externa superstitio, prava religio_ -- _prava_, because _deorum numen praetenditur sceleribus_; and hence, as Livy expresses it in the admirable speech put into the mouth of the consul, the Roman gods themselves felt their _numen_ to be contaminated. [ ❋ W. Warde Fowler (1884)

They supposed an art, a power, or a wisdom, which they called numen, in creatures the most destitute of understanding. ❋ Fran��ois De Salignac De La Mothe- F��nelon (1683)

“numinous” from the Latin word numen, which denoted a supernatural nonpersonalized being. ❋ S. G. F. BRANDON (1968)

Where events carry modalities of conviction or disposition — “must/must-not happen” or “should/should-not happen” — it may be more useful to treat this a strong/weak distinction, and take the flavour of the quirk as a product of its positive or negative loading: that which we revere may be termed a numen; that which we abhor may be termed a monstrum. ❋ Hal Duncan (2009)

The translation has often given cause for dispute, as 'numen' is a word that may be translated as vague-sounding Providence, as a rather non-commital Deity or as the strict and fierce monotheistic God. ❋ Unknown (2009)

It is the presence of the third quirk, however, I think, that renders this action sublime rather than simply monstrous, for we can see in this the very stuff of power-fantasy -- the numen -- the complement of the monstrum that so often, and not-so-secretly, goes hand-in-hand with it. ❋ Hal Duncan (2010)

Ruptura numen: In The Bacchae by Euripedes, we have the monstrum dicta of Pentheus the tyrant, King of Tears, who has denied the god Dionysus his due. ❋ Hal Duncan (2009)

“It begins with the awful …” — i.e. with the monstrum — “and then finds comfort” — i.e. in the numen. ❋ Hal Duncan (2009)

If we take the hero and the non-hero (of romance and high and low mimetic) as numen and non-numen variants of agonists bound by deontic modalities then you're going to see a tendency for them to be working within the dicta (or kicking against them) and thereby falling into pro - or ant - roles. ❋ Hal Duncan (2009)

The new ruptura monstrum, the new miasma that stains Orestes, renders him subject to the vengeance of the Furies, is set against our sympathy, against the affective warp that cries out for a numen, the solution that “should happen”. ❋ Hal Duncan (2009)

I'd take out the justification of benefit to self that's attached to the numen/monstrum here; it's a rationalisation of affect that I don't think we need, not when the numen or monstrum may be nothing to do with pragmatic benefits or even with the self at all. ❋ Hal Duncan (2010)

Where tremulum and staccatum are most applicable when it comes to character motivation, it should be noted, numen and monstrum may well be constructed entirely from the reader's disposition/conviction. ❋ Hal Duncan (2010)

Rather than just dewarping an alethic quirk -- a giant robot, for example -- by finding an answer to the "How could this happen?" question, the reader might more commonly be responding to it as a numen, parsing it as something that should happen -- cause giant robots are cooooool! ❋ Hal Duncan (2010)

But it is the numen and staccatum in his action that define the import, the fact that he does exactly what beseems a hero -- what he should do -- and that the cry embodies this as a choice, an act of will -- what he would do. ❋ Hal Duncan (2010)

The boulomaic quirk -- the numen -- is born from that alethic quirk in a simple flip from denial to plea: "Oh, could this not happen?" ❋ Hal Duncan (2010)

The numen or monstrum, as it pertains to a potential action, is the staccatum rendered absolute, just as the dictum is the determina rendered absolute, stripped of any potential alternative. ❋ Hal Duncan (2010)

Cross Reference for Numen

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