foreboding
Americannoun
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a prediction; portent.
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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:
Jenkin has suggested his latest is a commentary on sacrifice and community, but any concrete theory of “Rose of Nevada” risks allowing his enigmatic puzzle to lose its shattering spell of mystery and foreboding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 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
"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
In contrast, DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, concluded its answers to a user’s questions about weapons selection with a foreboding farewell.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026
Colonel Cathcart answered with wan foreboding, and General Dreedle then cupped his hand over his mouth and whispered something that made Colonel Cathcart’s face glow with immense joy.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
And there are less apocalyptic forebodings as well: unstoppable AI-powered hackers, massive global AI misinformation campaigns, rampant unemployment as artificial intelligence takes our jobs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2023
Dry in a way that seemed to conflict with Washington meteorological measurement and myth, and with our summertime forebodings and apprehensions.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 4, 2022
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
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.
