ominous
Americanadjective
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portending evil or harm; foreboding; threatening; inauspicious.
an ominous bank of dark clouds.
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indicating the nature of a future event, for good or evil; having the significance of an omen; being a portent.
Some of these events were immediately ominous, while others only later revealed themselves as such.
adjective
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foreboding evil
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serving as or having significance as an omen
Related Words
Ominous, portentous, threatening, menacing, fateful are adjectives describing that which forebodes a serious, significant, and often harmful outcome. Ominous, derived from omen “a predictor of outcomes,” usually suggests evil or damaging eventualities: ominous storm clouds; an ominous silence. Portentous, although it may suggest evil results, often stresses a momentous or very important outcome: a portentous moment in history; a portentous escalation of hostilities. Threatening may suggest calamity or great harm but sometimes mere unpleasantness: a threatening rumble from the volcano; A threatening look from his brother caused him to quickly change the subject. Menacing always suggests serious damage as an outcome: He advanced with a menacing swagger. Fateful most often stresses the great or decisive importance of what it describes: a fateful encounter between two future leaders; a fateful day that changed our world.
Other Word Forms
- ominously adverb
- ominousness noun
- unominous adjective
- unominously adverb
- unominousness noun
Etymology
Origin of ominous
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin ōminōsus “portentous,” equivalent to ōmin- (stem of ōmen ) + -ōsus; omen, -ous
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.
On a night of nerves and tension, City overcame Newcastle United to secure a 2-1 win that sent a loud and ominous message: "Over to you, Arsenal."
From BBC
Pop-psychology dispatches with ominous titles like “Gen Zers who romanticize yearning will likely learn these 5 things the hard way” suggest that there is perhaps too much yearning going on.
From Salon
The wider questions, however, surround Arsenal's temperament to withstand the pressure that is suddenly closing in on them, an ominous reminder of previous failings.
From BBC
One of the ominous lessons is that the real danger to ordinary investors may not be a short-term “crash” but a long period of dismal returns.
From MarketWatch
The Sierra Avalanche Center, based in Truckee, had issued an ominous warning at 6:29 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
