Wednesday, May 15, 2013

presentment, presentiment

Presentment or presentment is sometimes used as a synonym for "presentation".
"Presentation" is more common, more clear, and therefore preferable.
Presentment is most commonly used as a legal term, meaning a written statement of an offense--
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury..."

Presentiment or presentiment ( sounds a lot like presentment ) means a feeling of foreboding, or an idea of a future occurrence or danger--
Every time she heard the weird organ music, she had a presentiment of death and disaster.
He checked the locks on the doors, but couldn't rid himself of the presentiment of danger.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"He woke up several times during the night, with an awful presentiment involving a presentment by a grand jury, for the murder of his partner."

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