Dictionary

writing on the wall en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ˈɹaɪtɪŋ ɒn ðə ˈwɔːl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• [ˈɹaɪ̯ɾɪŋ] (General-American)
• /ˈɹaɪtɪŋ ɑn ðə ˈwɔl/ (General-American)

Etymology

From the Biblical story in Daniel 5, where, during a feast held by King Belshazzar, a hand suddenly appears and writes on a wall the following Aramaic words: מְנֵא מְנֵא תְּקֵל וּפַרְסִין (mənē mənē təqēl ūp̄arsīn, “numbered, numbered, weighed, and they are divided”) (Daniel 5:25). Daniel interprets the words as pointing to the downfall of the Babylonian Empire.

Meanings

1. (countable, idiomatic, uncountable) An ominous warning; a prediction of bad luck.
   • The Portuguese refused to read the writings on the wall and clung to their colonies, including the one in India. 2011, M. P. Prabhakaran, “Goa was Not a Settler Colony as Falkland is”, in Letters on India The New York Times Did Not Publish, Pittsburgh, Pa.: RoseDog Books, →ISBN, page 43:
   • He could see the writing on the wall months before the business failed.
   • As a railwayman put it to me: "When I saw chums of mine took their families down there by car, I could see the writing on the wall. We all had free passes, yet they got the car out!" 2022 February 23, Benedict le Vay, “Part of rail's past... present... and future”, in RAIL, number 951, pages 53–54:
   • Without a doubt these trends represent the "next big thing". Consider a sampling of recent headlines as writings on the wall: […] 2012, Jan Nederveen Pieterse, “Global Rebalancing: Crisis and the East-South Turn”, in Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Jongtae Kim, editors, Globalization and Development in East Asia (Routledge Studies in Emerging Societies; 2), New York, N.Y.; Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 36:
   • She should have seen the writing on the wall when her boss suggested a change of career.
   • Don't you see the implications and writings on the wall for our family's future? 2014, Daniel Carnahan, The Manipulator, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 594:
   • It gets to the point to where you see so much writing on the wall where we may not have a choice but to step in and say 'yes, you will train every year and you'll report that training to POST' in order for things to be done right. 2014 September 15, Rhonda Cook, “Regulator may push for state-mandated Taser training”, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, archived from the original on 25 Oct 2016:
   • However, regardless of evil portents, prophetic despair and a great deal too much writing on the wall, I have managed so far to write two fairly cheerful musical comedies. 1965, Noël Coward, “Note on ‘The Sixties’”, in The Lyrics, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 361:

Forms

Relateds

the writing is on the wall

Translations (18)

it premonizione (ominous warning) · it presagio (ominous warning) · pl zły omen (ominous warning) · nn skrifta på veggen (ominous warning) · it pronostico (ominous warning) · nb mene tekel (ominous warning) · pt estar com os dias contados (ominous warning) · de Menetekel (ominous warning) · nb skriften på veggen (ominous warning) · da skriften på væggen (ominous warning) · it predizione (ominous warning) · sv skriften på väggen (ominous warning) · pl początek końca (ominous warning) · cmn 厄运的征兆 (ominous warning) · fi vaaran merkit (ominous warning) · nn mene tekel (ominous warning) · sv mene tekel (ominous warning) · is váboði (ominous warning)

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