auguration means augury; divination. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “auguration” is a great word
The formal practice of divination by interpreting omens. From the Latin auguratio, augurationis ("augury, divination"), from augur ("soothsayer, diviner"). First attested in English c1450. Unlike "augury" (which specifically denotes the Roman art of reading avian flight) or "prediction" (which suggests a reasoned forecast), auguration is the ritualized act of seeking a message in the world's raw signs. It is the haruspex scrutinizing a sheep’s liver for a tell-tale blemish, the silent watching of the sky for a thunderbolt after a solemn question, or the meticulous counting of birds that cross a sacred field—each act a patient, desperate archaeology of the present, performed to excavate a future.
Etymology
From Latin auguratio.