portentous
por·ten·tous
adj \pȯr-ˈten-təs\Definition of PORTENTOUS
1
: of, relating to, or constituting a portent <suspense, portentous foreshadowing, hints of sinister and violent mysteries — Francine Prose>
2
: eliciting amazement or wonder : prodigious
3
a : being a grave or serious matter <portentous decisions> b : self-consciously solemn or important : pompous <portentous declamation unsalted by the least trace of humor — W. H. Pritchard> c : ponderously excessive <that discipline's overwrought, portentous phrases — R. M. Coles>
— por·ten·tous·ly adverb
— por·ten·tous·ness noun
Examples of PORTENTOUS
- <an eerie and portentous stillness hung over the camp the night before the battle>
- <in 1969 people regarded the first landing on the moon as a truly portentous event>
First Known Use of PORTENTOUS
15th century
Related to PORTENTOUS
Synonyms: baleful, dire, direful, doomy, foreboding, ill, ill-boding, inauspicious, menacing, minatory, ominous, sinister, threatening
Antonyms: unthreatening
Related Words: black, bleak, cheerless, chill, Cimmerian, cloudy, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, dim, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, dreich [chiefly Scottish], elegiac (also elegiacal), forlorn, funereal, gloomy, glum, godforsaken, gray (also grey), lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, plutonian, saturnine, sepulchral, somber (or sombre), sullen, sunless, tenebrific, tenebrous, wretched; discouraging, disheartening, hopeless, unfavorable, unpromising, unpropitious; ill-fated, ill-starred, star-crossed, troubled, unfortunate, unlucky; evil, malign, malignant
Near Antonyms: auspicious, benign, bright, encouraging, favorable, golden, heartening, hopeful, promising, propitious, prosperous
See Synonym Discussion at ominous
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Rhymes with PORTENTOUS
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