Numinous
Etymology
From Latin “numen” (a divine will or presence, literally a “nod” of a god, from “nuere,” to nod). The adjective “numinous” was coined by the German theologian Rudolf Otto in his 1917 book “The Idea of the Holy” to name the raw experience of the sacred — his “mysterium tremendum et fascinans,” a mystery both terrifying and alluring. It captures the feeling of the holy stripped of doctrine.
adjective · /NOO-mih-nus/
Filled with a sense of the holy that inspires awe, dread, and fascination at once.
What it names
The specific feeling of standing before the sacred — overwhelming and magnetic together — that plain words like "spiritual" blur.
Example
Alone in the vast, silent cave, she felt something numinous — awe and a prickle of dread she couldn’t explain.
Related idea
The sublime is awe at overwhelming natural grandeur; the numinous is awe specifically before the sacred or divine — a holy dread rather than an aesthetic one.