prodigy

Definition

An extraordinary occurrence or creature; an anomaly, especially a monster; a freak.

Etymology

From Middle English prodige (“portent”), from Latin prōdigium (“omen, portent, prophetic sign”).

Example Sentences

• "He is never chased; he would run away with rope-walks of line. Prodigies are told of him."
• "These on the farther bank now stood and gazed, / By Heaven alarm’d, by prodigies amazed: / A signal omen stopp’d the passing host, / Their martial fury in their wonder lost."
• "Prodigies and Portents have infected the beſt VVritings of Antiquity; and have ſo blotted and deformed our modern Annals, that (vvith greater Juſtice than Polybius has obſerv'd it, of the former) they may be rather called Tragedies than History."

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