handwriting on wall
Visible prophetic message
Handwriting on the wall is an omen of impending doom or unavoidable trouble.
The phrase comes from the biblical story in which mysterious writing appears on a wall during a feast, foretelling the king's downfall.
To see the handwriting on the wall is to recognize warning signs that others may ignore: The company's best engineers started leaving—the handwriting was on the wall.
- omenProphetic indicator
- bad omenSign foretelling misfortune
- ill omenSign predicting misfortune
- prophecyForetelling of future events
- warningAlert about danger
final warning · doom · fate · sealed fate · Daniel · Book of Daniel · Belshazzar · biblical · foreboding · premonition · sign · portent · graffiti · message · inevitable · finger · inscription · feast
- Bible visionswheels within wheels, valley of dry bones, valley of bones, dry bones, burning bush
- prophecyprophecy, prophet, seer, prophets, prophetess
handwriting on wallgood omen
Favorable sign of future
ray of hope · silver lining · light at the end of the tunnel · green light · blessing in disguise
handwriting on wallhead in the sand
Deliberate avoidance of reality
false hope · fool's paradise · willful blindness · rose-colored glasses · blissful ignorance
handwriting on wallopen question
Unresolved matter for discussion
anyone's guess · wildcard · unknown quantity · mixed signals
handed, handing, handily, handedness, writes, written, writing, writer, writers