oracular
adjective
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When the ancient Greeks had questions or problems, they would turn to the gods for answers by consulting an oracle, a person through whom the gods communicated, usually in the form of cryptic verse. (Oracle also referred to the god's answer or to the shrine that worshippers approached when seeking advice; the word's root is the Latin verb orare, which means "to speak.") English speakers today can use oracle to simply refer to an authoritative pronouncement or to a person who makes such pronouncements—for example, "a designer who is an oracle of fashion." And the related adjective oracular is used in similar contexts: "a designer who is an oracular voice of fashion."
Examples of oracular in a Sentence
Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 29 July 2025
Eisenberg completed an eerie song praising West Elm as an oracular realm, then asked Scardino to write a short monologue to set it up.
—Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 30 June 2025
Grade’s novels aren’t oracular, the way the section on postwar Vilna in his memoir was.
—Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2025
Lynch plays Cole as a secular prophet, a grand and monumental presence dispensing wisdom and judgment with a self-deprecating yet oracular intensity.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for oracular
Cite this Entry
“Oracular.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oracular. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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oracular
adjective
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