Showing results for "foreboding"

• present participle of forebode.

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In Old English, foreboding was associated with what?

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foreboding

American  

[fawr-boh-ding, fohr-] / fɔrˈboʊ dɪŋ, foʊr- /

noun

• forebodings
  plural

1. 

   a prediction; portent.

2. a strong inner feeling or notion of a future misfortune, evil, etc.; presentiment.

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adjective

1. that forebodes, especially evil.

foreboding British  

/ fɔːˈbəʊdɪŋ /

noun

1. a feeling of impending evil, disaster, etc

2. an omen or portent

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adjective

1. presaging something

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• forebodingness
  noun
• unforeboding
  adjective
• forebodingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• forebodings
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of foreboding

1350–1400; Middle English forbodyng (noun); see forebode, -ing ¹, -ing ²

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Explanation

When you get a foreboding, you get a sense that something bad is going to happen. A foreboding is a foretelling, a sign or a glimpse, that "something wicked this way comes" — or might come. If something doesn’t "bode" well, it means that the future doesn't look good. A foreboding is a glimpse or a feeling that bad things are going to happen. It's a premonition, or look into the future. Most times foreboding implies that something evil is coming, but sometimes it's used for anything bad up ahead, as in "she had a foreboding that the trip would get canceled due to the hurricane." Even if the future looks bright, a foreboding casts dread over what's ahead.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foreboding forebodings

But a 0.1-percent dip in food services sales could reflect that people are opting to drive less -- a foreboding sign for broader spending in the services sector.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

"I had that foreboding of what life was going to be, and I was getting pretty good on the guitar, so I sold my birthday presents to raise the money to go to Sweden."

From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026

Now, Rhys embraces two wildly different roles he shot back-to-back, showcasing versatility against foreboding backdrops of murder and the supernatural.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026

Under the skylight of a 10-foot industrial ceiling is a cold, foreboding blacksmith’s forge — which, on an active day, would heat up to 2,500 degrees — surrounded by uncut, conical metal templates awaiting manipulation.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026

He opened it, his temples pulsing with foreboding.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

All day, gray clouds clustered overhead, adding to forebodings, and ratifying forecasts of a gathering storm.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2022

Heaven finds a new life at her estranged grandparents’ exquisite Boston mansion, but even in the world of the wealthy, there are strange forebodings, secrets best forgotten.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2019

Despite their forebodings, the referendum result shocked Irish officials.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 18, 2019

For a year, readers would be invited to send in their dreams and forebodings, which would be compared with actual events.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 25, 2019

Nameless forebodings crept upon him as he sat there in the dark: He tried to resist them, push them away, yet they came at him relentlessly.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

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Related Words

• apprehension
• dread
• premonition

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