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View synonyms for ominous

ominous

[ om-uh-nuhs ]

adjective

  1. portending evil or harm; foreboding; threatening; inauspicious:

    an ominous bank of dark clouds.

  2. 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.



ominous

/ ˈɒmɪnəs /

adjective

  1. foreboding evil
  2. serving as or having significance as an omen
“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


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Derived Forms

  • ˈominousness, noun
  • ˈominously, adverb
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Other Words From

  • omi·nous·ly adverb
  • omi·nous·ness noun
  • un·omi·nous adjective
  • un·omi·nous·ly adverb
  • un·omi·nous·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of ominous1

First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin ōminōsus “portentous,” equivalent to ōmin- (stem of ōmen ) + -ōsus; omen, -ous
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Word History and Origins

Origin of ominous1

C16: from Latin ōminōsus, from omen
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Synonym Study

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.
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Example Sentences

In her first movie in more than a decade, decorated New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion directs Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst in an ominous, gorgeously saturated Western set in 1920s Montana.

From Time

There is definitely an ominous butt hanging over our future.

The other, more ominous reason is we may well need to pull the planet back after it blows through dangerous temperature thresholds.

This ancient crow has just cast the soul into an elongated, particularly ominous door.

I guess the skincare die hards have finally gotten to me with their ominous messaging about how excessive sunlight can damage my hide in ways that are undetectable early on but will come back to haunt me later in life.

In the back of my mind I was wondering how much time we had before there might be an ominous knock at the door.

In The Lodger an ominous character paced the floor, which Hitchcock constructed of glass.

He wrote that he deserved to die and alluded to a ominous plan that he had backed out of twice already.

The drumbeat and synth bass are as insistent as they are ominous.

Other hints at the changing war are less ominous, but obnoxious nonetheless.

Also, some ominous comments on what armies spend and what Governments scrimp:—that is ammunition.

They were followed by a little dried-up Italian army surgeon, who carried under his arm an ominous-looking black case.

Tony was gay, light-hearted as usual, belying Mrs. Haughstone's ominous prediction.

The glowing heavens, luminous athwart the clouds of fine, suspended sand, laid this ominous hint of dream upon the entire day.

Only the western heavens, where the sun sank in a red mass of ominous splendour, was alive with energy.

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omigodomissible