adjective
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harmful, menacing, or vindictive
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archaic dejected
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of baleful
before 1000; Middle English; Old English bealofull. See bale 2, -ful
Explanation
Baleful means the foreshadowing of tragic or evil events. If no one's listening in class and your teacher reprimands you with a baleful glance, expect a pop quiz. If your car breaks down and you take refuge in a deserted mansion, you might huddle under a dusty blanket and find yourself thinking that the wind moaning at the windows sounds baleful — maybe it's really the voice of a young woman murdered in the very bed where you sleep?
Vocabulary lists containing baleful
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 1–7
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Baleful Basil Rathbone, a petty crook, proves that Pelletier is dead and wins Powell's case for him.
From Time Magazine Archive
Baleful Light Like all problems these days, the problem of corruption seems to fall under a particularly baleful light in South Viet Nam, with the critics more critical and the actors more selfconscious.
From Time Magazine Archive
Baleful cries rang up and down the stairwell, all echoing the same news: the basin on the stairwell had been stolen.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Baleful green tides moved against the bellies of the clouds, and pools of orange light spread out across the heavens.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Baleful eyes, from each of his heads, glared at this creature who dared threaten his sleeping master.
From The Tarn of Eternity by Tymon, Frank
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
