foreboding

[ fawr-boh-ding, fohr- ]

/ fɔrˈboʊ dɪŋ, foʊr- /

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See synonyms for foreboding on Thesaurus.com

noun

a prediction; portent.

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

adjective

that forebodes, especially evil.

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QUIZ YOURSELF ON "WAS" VS. "WERE"!

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Question 1 of 7

“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.

true

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Origin of foreboding

1350–1400; Middle English forbodyng (noun); see forebode, -ing¹, -ing²

OTHER WORDS FROM foreboding

fore·bod·ing·ly, adverbfore·bod·ing·ness, nounun·fore·bod·ing, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH foreboding

forbidding, foreboding

Words nearby foreboding

fore-and-aft sail, forearm, forearm smash, forebear, forebode, foreboding, forebody, forebrain, forecaddie, forecast, forecastle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use foreboding in a sentence

I ordered two of these soft Vera Bradley cotton masks solely as mood boosters to combat the bleakness of late-fall weather and the foreboding winter that’s forecast, but they’ve quickly proved ideal for my runs.
The Gear Our Editors Loved in November|The Editors|December 4, 2020|Outside Online
The duo, who form There Is Studio and specialize in combining typography and photo illustration, created an eerie, foreboding sense of isolation with a frosted window outside their east London home.
The Story Behind TIME's 'Covid Winter' Cover|D.W. Pine|November 19, 2020|Time
Samson paints a dark and foreboding future of social unrest, unemployment and widespread criminality in Kitwe if there isn’t a new allocation.
Crime, Corona, Copper and Trouble in Zambia|Eugene Robinson|October 30, 2020|Ozy
Season six is big on the sense of foreboding doom, and it doesn’t always do it well — but here it’s still fresh enough to be unsettling and effective.
Every episode of Gilmore Girls, ranked|Constance Grady|October 6, 2020|Vox

Those turned off by the foreboding -packaging may turn to more holistic sleep-wellness methods.
Why We Buy In to the Big Business of Sleep|Kelsey McKinney|August 6, 2020|Time
The sense of foreboding mounted by the day as IS fighters surrounded the Sinjar district on three sides.
How the U.S.-favored Kurds Abandoned the Yazidis when ISIS Attacked|Christine van den Toorn|August 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There was one foreboding clue as to what was to come for the house members.
No One Told ‘Big Brother Israel’ About the War|Nina Strochlic|August 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Plus the moors where she lives—all cascading waterfalls and glowing fairies and foreboding thorns—are rather lovely to look at it.
The Ghastly ‘Maleficent’ and Why It’s Time For Hollywood to Kill the Dark Reboot|Andrew Romano|May 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And their deaths have heightened the tensions and the sense of foreboding that something bigger and more brutal may happen soon.
Russia’s Partisans Imposing Their Rule in East Ukraine|Jamie Dettmer|April 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
On August 15, 1982, Mary appeared with a foreboding message.
Did the Virgin Mary Warn Rwanda’s Holiest Town of the Genocide?|Nina Strochlic|April 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He remembered standing once before on this very spot, that foreboding of coming loneliness so strangely in his heart.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
She waited for no further formalities, but shaken with the sure foreboding of calamity, turned and fled the room.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
A horrible foreboding gripped me, and I quickly knelt down and raised the dog's head.
Uncanny Tales|Various
Raoul, with pessimistic foreboding, was convinced that there were only girls next door.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
The air seemed full of foreboding; everything seemed to tell him of calamity.
The Everlasting Arms|Joseph Hocking

British Dictionary definitions for foreboding

foreboding

/ (fɔːˈbəʊdɪŋ) /

noun

a feeling of impending evil, disaster, etc

an omen or portent

adjective

presaging something

Derived forms of foreboding

forebodingly, adverbforebodingness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

foreboding

Origin of foreboding

OTHER WORDS FROM foreboding

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH foreboding

Words nearby foreboding

Words related to foreboding

How to use foreboding in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for foreboding

Derived forms of foreboding