Definition of BALEFUL

Examples of baleful in a Sentence

the baleful effects of water pollution
a dark, baleful sky portending a tornado

Recent Examples of baleful from the Web

Both were ordered by the regional commander of imperial forces in Taiwan and were meant to ward off the baleful influences of nature in this once-remote area.

— Smithsonian, "Bitou and Longdong Bay Geological Park", 22 May 2017
Whatever the other factors, Mr. Comey has become a singularly baleful figure to people who worked on her campaign.

— mark landler, New York Times, "How Does Comey’s Fall Play in Hillaryland? No One’s Celebrating", 10 May 2017
The bleakness is relieved by the rituals of tension—spot the many dogs that stray into view, and listen for the smashing of glass—and by Mungiu’s baleful pastiche of a happy ending.

— anthony lane, The New Yorker, "“Ghost in the Shell” and “Graduation”", 30 Mar. 2017
With her conspicuously burned hand and slightly cowed demeanor, this Mag isn’t the baleful, suffocating force that Ms. Manahan was.

— ben brantley, New York Times, "Review: ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’: Oh Gosh, I’ve Turned Into My Mother", 15 Jan. 2017
Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a substantial margin—more than two and a half million votes—but, under the baleful metrics of our Electoral College, the outcome was not especially close.

— michael schulman, The New Yorker, "The Real Voting Scandal of 2016", 12 Dec. 2016
The accompanying photographs of Shaun Tan’s baleful sculptures (see right) show objects with the power of tribal fetishes that at the same time exude ambiguity.

— meghan cox gurdon, WSJ, "Meghan Cox Gurdon on the Best New Children’s Books", 10 Oct. 2016
Soon thereafter, rumors of a baleful Bozo moved south to Mulhouse, France, so five local teens formed an anti-clown task force.

— michael howard, Esquire, "France Joins The Creepy Clown Hysteria", 27 Oct. 2014

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'baleful'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of baleful

before 12th century

baleful Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of baleful

sinister, baleful, malign mean seriously threatening evil or disaster. sinister suggests a general or vague feeling of fear or apprehension on the part of the observer. a sinister aura haunts the place baleful imputes perniciousness or destructiveness to something whether working openly or covertly. exerting a corrupt and baleful influence malign applies to what is inherently evil or harmful. the malign effects of racism

baleful