---
title: oracular — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «oracular» in the school dictionary: Oracular means like an oracle: giving wise-sounding answers or predictions that are often hard to understand. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# oracular

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Oracular, wise sounding answers, old woman, prophecy, oracular words, everyone · **What happens:** mean, give, sound, be, understand, puzzle · **To what, where:** wise sounding answers, oracular reply, everyone

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«oracular» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [oracular in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/oracular.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Oracular means like an oracle: giving wise-sounding answers or predictions that are often hard to understand.

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:oracular:m1:1
# text = Oracular means like an oracle: giving wise-sounding answers or predictions that are often hard to understand.
1	Oracular	Oracular	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	oracle	oracle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
7	giving	give	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	sounding	sound	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	amod	_	_
11	answers	answer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	predictions	prediction	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
14	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	often	often	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	acl:relcl	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Oracular |  |  |  |  | like a oracle | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **give** | gerund | Oracular *not said here* | wise sounding answers or predictions |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=Theme |
| 3 | **sound** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** | present | wise sounding answers or predictions |  |  |  |  | hard, often *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **understand** | to-infinitive | wise sounding answers or predictions *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old woman gave an oracular reply.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:oracular:x1:1
# text = The old woman gave an oracular reply.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	oracular	oracular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	reply	reply	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | the old woman | a oracular reply |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reply=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The prophecy was oracular and puzzling.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:oracular:x2:1
# text = The prophecy was oracular and puzzling.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prophecy	prophecy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	oracular	oracular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	puzzling	puzzle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the prophecy |  |  |  |  | oracular *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **puzzle** | gerund | the prophecy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His oracular words left everyone thinking.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:oracular:x3:1
# text = His oracular words left everyone thinking.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	oracular	oracular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	4	obj	_	_
6	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | past | His oracular words | everyone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | gerund | everyone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **word** |  | His *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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