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
- forebodingly adverb
- forebodingness noun
- unforeboding adjective
Etymology
Origin of foreboding
1350–1400; Middle English forbodyng (noun); forebode, -ing 1, -ing 2
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.
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
That, of course, is not how any of this works, and it was a foreboding sign of Crockett’s commitment to a free press, not to mention her understanding of the First Amendment.
From Slate • Mar. 3, 2026
The estate of Wuthering Heights is foreboding and dark, with rocks splintering through the walls, while Linton’s Thrushcross Grange bears a Victorian aesthetic, containing the outside world.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 2026
And when the future was seen as foreboding, fairs did their best to pave a yellow-brick road.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 14, 2026
Such a place the Fallen Angels might have built as a spite to Heaven, dry and sharp, desolate and dangerous, and for me filled with foreboding.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
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.
