presentiment
/prɪˈzɛn.tɪ.mənt/
"presentiment" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“presentiment” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A premonition; a feeling that something, often of undesirable nature, is going to happen.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | presentiment |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /prɪˈzɛn.tɪ.mənt/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “presentiment” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for presentiment is 12 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /prɪˈzɛn.tɪ.mənt/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A premonition; a feeling that something, often of undesirable nature, is going to happen.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for presentiment, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French pressentiment, from Middle French, equivalent to pre- + sentiment. The correct English form is presentiment, spelled P-R-E-S-E-N-T-I-M-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1A premonition; a feeling that something, often of undesirable nature, is going to happen.
Etymology
From French pressentiment, from Middle French, equivalent to pre- + sentiment.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “presentiment”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-E-S-E-N-T-I-M-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /prɪˈzɛn.tɪ.mənt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.