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); 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.
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
The doors were blank and foreboding, but this was no time to hesitate.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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.
