oracular

[ aw-rak-yuh-ler, oh-rak- ]

adjective

1. of the nature of, resembling, or suggesting an oracle:

   an oracular response.

   Synonyms: prophetic

2. giving forth utterances or decisions as if by special inspiration or authority.

   Synonyms: dogmatic, authoritative

3. uttered or delivered as if divinely inspired or infallible; sententious.
4. ambiguous; obscure.

   Synonyms: equivocal

5. portentous; ominous.

oracular

/ ɒˈrækjʊlə /

adjective

1. of or relating to an oracle

   Apollo had his oracular shrine at Delphi

2. wise and prophetic

   an oracular political thriller

3. mysterious or ambiguous

Derived Forms

• oˈracularly, adverb

Other Words From

• o·racu·lar·ly adverb
• o·rac·u·lar·i·ty [aw-rak-y, uh, -, lar, -i-tee, oh-rak-], o·racu·lar·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of oracular¹

First recorded in 1625–35; from Latin ōrācul(um) oracle + -ar ¹

Example Sentences

Casually dressed in black, her brassy side noticeably toned down, LuPone spoke with such quiet, oracular confidence that it wouldn’t have surprised me if she’d pulled out a deck of Tarot cards and started divining our futures.

From Los Angeles Times

Oracular, kaleidoscopic works on paper combine Saret’s mathematical studies with what appears like religious sacred geometry redolent of the I Ching and the Kabbalah’s Sefirot — intricate compositions thick with color, language, and visual information that spirals and stellates, like schematics for achieving transcendence.

From New York Times

The justices who practice originalism are no more oracular figures who can commune with the drafters of sacred text than they are professional historians.

From Slate

It’s impossible to separate the new, conservative affinity for treating text as sacred and the Supreme Court as oracular diviners of holy meaning from statistics showing a statistically significant correlation between Americans’ approval of originalism and their belief in the literal truth of the Bible.

From Slate

She worked with a snake to put herself in an oracular trance.

From Scientific American