Synonyms of baleful

baleful

adjective

ˈbāl-fəl 

1

as in ominous

being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come

a dark, baleful sky portending a tornado

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ominous
• sinister
• menacing
• bleak
• threatening
• portentous
• minatory
• dark
• direful
• darkening
• somber
• inauspicious
• murky
• dire
• foreboding
• lonely
• black
• depressive
• unfortunate
• desolate
• depressing
• ill
• gray
• ill-boding
• doomy
• dim
• morbid
• unfavorable
• sullen
• cold
• lugubrious
• saturnine
• sepulchral
• cheerless
• morose
• gloomy
• lonesome
• dismal
• elegiac
• unpropitious
• funereal
• disconsolate
• glum
• dreary
• drear
• forlorn
• malignant
• discouraging
• troubled
• unpromising
• chill
• miserable
• comfortless
• tenebrous
• cloudy
• evil
• malign
• hopeless
• wretched
• disheartening
• godforsaken
• plutonian
• dreich
• Cimmerian
• sunless
• unlucky
• tenebrific
• ill-starred
• ill-fated
• star-crossed

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• favorable
• golden
• bright
• benign
• promising
• hopeful
• encouraging
• unthreatening
• auspicious
• prosperous
• propitious
• heartening

2

as in adverse

causing or capable of causing harm

contends that the violent content of so much of popular entertainment is a baleful influence on our society

Synonyms & Similar Words

• adverse
• harmful
• detrimental
• damaging
• dangerous
• bad
• baneful
• poisonous
• pernicious
• deleterious
• evil
• noxious
• infectious
• hazardous
• injurious
• mischievous
• wicked
• prejudicial
• ill
• hurtful
• hostile
• nocuous
• deadly
• sinister
• destructive
• venomous
• ominous
• lethal
• infective
• insidious
• inimical
• menacing
• unsafe
• unfriendly
• threatening
• pestilential
• risky
• malignant
• contagious
• pestilent
• fatal
• pestiferous
• perilous
• unwholesome
• killer
• ruinous
• unhealthful
• unhealthy
• unsound
• nasty
• parlous
• noisome
• imperiling
• jeopardizing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• benign
• harmless
• innocuous
• innocent
• useful
• beneficial
• safe
• favorable
• advantageous
• inoffensive
• good
• propitious
• salutary
• anodyne
• remedial
• salubrious
• healthful
• helpful
• wholesome
• curative
• sound
• healthy
• palliative
• hurtless
• benignant
• secure
• nonlethal
• nonpoisonous
• nonfatal
• nontoxic
• nondestructive
• noninfectious
• noncorrosive
• nonpolluting
• nonvenomous

3

as in lethal

likely to cause or capable of causing death

a medicine that is beneficial in small doses but baleful in large

Synonyms & Similar Words

• lethal
• deadly
• poisonous
• fatal
• infectious
• infective
• killer
• harmful
• murderous
• toxic
• terminal
• mortal
• baneful
• dangerous
• deathly
• pestilent
• destructive
• pernicious
• fell
• deleterious
• vital
• injurious
• noxious
• virulent
• hazardous
• truculent
• menacing
• serious
• pestilential
• threatening
• perilous
• ugly
• risky
• sanguinary
• bloody
• sublethal
• grave
• grievous
• unhealthy
• parlous
• sanguine
• unsound
• internecine
• jeopardizing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• healthful
• wholesome
• salutary
• beneficial
• healthy
• nonlethal
• nonfatal
• salubrious
• restorative
• corrective
• remedial
• curative
• useful
• tonic
• advantageous
• safe
• alleviative
• nontoxic
• nonpoisonous

Synonym Chooser

How is the word baleful different from other adjectives like it?

The words malign and sinister are common synonyms of baleful. While all three words mean "seriously threatening evil or disaster," baleful imputes perniciousness or destructiveness to something whether working openly or covertly.

exerting a corrupt and baleful influence

In what contexts can malign take the place of baleful?

The words malign and baleful are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, malign applies to what is inherently evil or harmful.

the malign effects of racism

When would sinister be a good substitute for baleful?

The words sinister and baleful can be used in similar contexts, but sinister suggests a general or vague feeling of fear or apprehension on the part of the observer.

a sinister aura haunts the place

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of baleful

Still, Ortega’s performance proves that sulky, baleful gravity doesn’t have to lose its strange luster over time (a third season has already been announced). — Tom Gliatto, PEOPLE, 3 Sep. 2025

Orange County officials are the most recent to come under his baleful gaze. — Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 10 Aug. 2025

Dafoe’s presence and a distinctively baleful island ambience represent the chief selling points of this predominantly feel-bad exercise, premiering in Locarno’s Piazza Grande program. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 9 Aug. 2025

The truth is there in the baleful eyes of the figures who don’t get to speak, especially the bloodied prisoners handcuffed to the stair railing at the police station where her mother works. — Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2025

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