foreboding
Americannoun
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a prediction; portent.
-
a strong inner feeling or notion of a future misfortune, evil, etc.; presentiment.
adjective
noun
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a feeling of impending evil, disaster, etc
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an omen or portent
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of foreboding
1350–1400; Middle English forbodyng (noun); see forebode, -ing 1, -ing 2
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.
Vocabulary lists containing foreboding
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 2
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Power Prefix: fore-
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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.
See Examples For:
Brook's first act of the day was a foreboding one for England.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
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
As if being thrown back into the pool of adverse insurance-company decisions weren’t bad enough, three new developments should cause foreboding among Medicare Advantage subscribers.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 10, 2026
“It’s like being around two people who need to fight. Sometimes the foreboding quiet is exhausting, and you’d rather them just yell at each other.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
Jo spoke hopefully, but could not rid herself of the foreboding fear that this ‘little trial’ would be harder than the others, and that Laurie would not get over his ‘lovelornity’ as easily as heretofore.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Khalid Aljabri recalled that his father had forebodings of the trouble ahead.
From Washington Post ● May 28, 2020
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
The French government is relieved that its worst forebodings about the protests did not come to pass.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2018
This included a woman, her young child with a doll, the dead cat and forebodings about nuclear disaster and wave/particle duality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2014
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.
From "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley
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.
