misgiving

English

Etymology

From misgive , from mis- +‎ give, from Middle English give (“suggest, given”). Compare given and what gives.

Noun

misgiving (plural misgivings)

1. doubt, apprehension, a feeling of dread
   • 1846-1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son:

     He could think of her being there, without a lurking misgiving that it would have been better if she had not come.

   • 1900, Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie:

     In the night, or the gloomy chambers of the day, fears and misgivings wax strong, but out in the sunlight there is, for a time, cessation even of the terror of death.

   • 1960 March, J. P. Wilson & E. N. C. Haywood, “The route through the Peak - Derby to Manchester: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 149:

     Having got its Act, the M.B.M. & M.J.R. apparently had misgivings about the route, in view of the very heavy engineering works that would be necessary, and on November 9, 1846, the company gave notice of a further bill for a deviated line, which was passed into law on July 22, 1847.

Usage notes

Almost always used in the plural.

Synonyms

• doubt
• See Thesaurus:apprehension

Translations

Doubts, concerns

• Bulgarian: опасение (bg) n (opasenie)
• Dutch: twijfel (nl) m
• Finnish: epäilys (fi)
• French: état d’âme (fr) m
• German: Zweifel (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἐνθυμία f (enthumía)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malayalam: ആശങ്ക (ml) (āśaṅka)
• Maori: mānukanuka, pekerau, raupeka
• Plautdietsch: Bedenkjen n
• Portuguese: preocupações, dúvidas (pt)
• Russian: опасение (ru) n (opasenije), дурное предчувствие n (durnoje predčuvstvije)

Further reading

• “misgiving”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “misgiving”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.