misgive

Etymology

from mis- + give, from Middle English give (“suggest, give”). Compare given and what gives.

misgive means of the mind, heart, etc.: to give fear or doubt to; to make irresolute. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why “misgive” is a great word

MISGIVE — [Verb] To fill the mind or heart with a sudden, specific sense of doubt, fear, or apprehension. From the prefix mis- (meaning "wrongly, badly") + the verb give (from Middle English give, meaning "to suggest, to give"), with the sense of 'to give a bad suggestion or feeling'. First attested in English before 1535. Unlike "doubt," a general state of uncertainty, or "forebode," which implies a prophetic omen of future calamity, "misgive" is the internal, active stirring of present disquiet. It is the chill that misgives the traveler when the forest path falls silent, the sudden cold weight in the stomach when a trusted voice wavers, or the quiet, irrational conviction that the sunshine is too bright—the psyche, that ancient sentinel, whispering its solitary, unwelcome truth.

verb

Of the mind, heart, etc.: to give fear or doubt to; to make irresolute.“As Henry’s late presaging prophecy / Did glad my heart with hope of this young Richmond, / So doth my heart misgive me, in these conflicts / What may befall him, to his harm and ours:”
To suspect; to dread.“[…] But for he had hir sought, / And coulde not finde hir any where, assuredly he thought / She did not liue aboue the molde, ne drewe the vitall breath: / Misgiuing worser in his minde, if ought be worse than death.”
To give wrongly; to give or grant amiss.“1700, William Laud, An Historical Account of All Material Transactions Relating to the University of Oxford in The history of the troubles and tryal of the Most Reverend Father in God and blessed martyr, William Laud, Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, London: Ri[chard] Chiswell, p. 192, […] I protest unto you, I knew nothing of any of their Liberty misgiven or misused, till about a Fortnight since [”