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an ominous threat of war
He spoke in ominous tones.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ominous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Ominous didn't always mean "foreshadowing evil." If you look closely, you can see the "omen" in "ominous," which gave it the original meaning of "presaging events to come" - whether good or bad. It is ultimately derived from the Latin word omen, which is both an ancestor and a synonym of our "omen." Today, however, "ominous" tends to suggest a menacing or threatening aspect. Its synonyms "portentous" and "fateful" are used similarly, but "ominous" is the most menacing of the three. It implies an alarming character that foreshadows evil or disaster. "Portentous" suggests being frighteningly big or impressive, but seldom gives a definite forewarning of calamity. "Fateful" implies that something is of momentous or decisive importance.
baleful, dire, direful, foreboding, ill, ill-boding, inauspicious, menacing, minatory, portentous, sinister, threatening;
auspicious, benign, bright, encouraging, favorable, golden, heartening, hopeful, promising, propitious, prosperous;
black, bleak, cheerless, chill, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, dim, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, forlorn, funereal, gloomy, glum, godforsaken, gray (also grey), lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, saturnine, sepulchral, somber (or sombre), sullen, wretched;
discouraging, disheartening, hopeless, unfavorable, unpromising, unpropitious;
ill-fated, ill-starred, star-crossed, troubled, unfortunate, unlucky;
: suggesting that something bad is going to happen in the future
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for ominous Spanish Central: Translation of ominous Nglish: Translation of ominous for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of ominous for Arabic speakers
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