English [ edit ]

Etymology [ edit ]

Borrowed from Latin absit omen (“may what is said not come true”, literally “may omen be absent”).

Pronunciation [ edit ]

Interjection [ edit ]

absit omen

( rare ) May what is said not come true. [1] see Thesaurus: God forbid 1895 March 18, Henry Labouchere, SUPPLY—NAVY ESTIMATES, 1895–6. Hansard HC Deb vol 31 c.1295 Now it was very obvious we should require a much stronger Navy in the event of war, say with France and Russia— absit omen —if we were obliged to maintain our flag in the Mediterranean, than if we were to withdraw from the Mediterranean.

March 18, Henry Labouchere, SUPPLY—NAVY ESTIMATES, 1895–6. HC Deb vol 31 c.1295 1908, Edward Harper Parker, Ancient China Simplified, Chapman & Hall, chapter XXII It was only after the younger branch annexed the elder in 679 that Tsin became powerful and began to expand; and it was only when a policy of "home rule" and disintegration set in, involving the splitting up of Tsin's orthodox power into three royal states of doubtful orthodoxy, that China fell a prey to Ts'in ambition. Absit omen to us.

References [ edit ]