as in ominous
being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come
foreboding clouds began to gather
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in feel
a feeling that something bad will happen
I have this strange foreboding that your ski vacation will not turn out well, so be extra careful
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in portent
something believed to be a sign or warning of a future event
used to think that if he saw a blackbird fly over his left shoulder it was a foreboding of harm
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in dread
suspicion or fear of future harm or misfortune
a pessimist who is always overcome by a sense of foreboding before flying on an airplane
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
also forboding
as in promising
to show signs of a favorable or successful outcome
the dry summer doesn't forebode well for the harvest
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of foreboding
Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2025
Abbott was the first to announce the deployment of the Texas National Guard to Austin through a foreboding statement on X, warning that any disorder wouldn’t be tolerated.
—Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 17 Oct. 2025
Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 31 Oct. 2025
Peppering dashes of humor into its brew of foreboding, the movie views the rise of an authoritarian movement through its effect on a family of unbelievers, covering a five-year period that begins in celebration and ends somewhere very different.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 27 Oct. 2025
Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2025
The windowless hallways are narrow in the federal building that houses this immigration court, and the agents’ stocky bodies are foreboding in the tight corridors.
—Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN Money, 1 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for foreboding
Adjective
The Hawkins kids have their lives on the line in the foreboding trailer for the final season of Stranger Things.
—Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2025
Abbott was the first to announce the deployment of the Texas National Guard to Austin through a foreboding statement on X, warning that any disorder wouldn’t be tolerated.
—Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 17 Oct. 2025
Noun
The Air Force String quartet, outfitted with black instruments, played the foreboding soundtracks from movies, including Halloween, Jaws and Harry Potter.
—Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 31 Oct. 2025
Peppering dashes of humor into its brew of foreboding, the movie views the rise of an authoritarian movement through its effect on a family of unbelievers, covering a five-year period that begins in celebration and ends somewhere very different.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 27 Oct. 2025
Verb
Nile is skeletal like Jared Kushner; his thinness is foreboding, marking a disavowal of all that is sensual.
—Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2025
The windowless hallways are narrow in the federal building that houses this immigration court, and the agents’ stocky bodies are foreboding in the tight corridors.
—Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN Money, 1 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for foreboding
Recent Examples of Synonyms for foreboding
Adjective
-
Episodes are bound together by banal introductory voiceover, in which our narrator recites ominous clichés that, like everything in His & Hers, border on parody.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Jan. 2026
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More ominous still is the thought of the FanDuel mentality extending into other areas of American life.—
Rand Richards Cooper,
Hartford Courant,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Halsey's wavy hair gives their longer pixie cut a retro feel.—
Audrey Noble,
InStyle,
13 Jan. 2026
-
Crafted from 100% cotton, the fabric delivers the soft stretch and cozy feel of your favorite T-shirt while being gentle on the skin.—
Mariana Best,
Better Homes & Gardens,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
If that is the case, the Ring Nebula could be a portent of what awaits Earth in around 5 billion years when the sun runs out of fuel for nuclear fusion and puffs out to become a red giant.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
19 Jan. 2026
-
Carol’s favorite, Bella Donna, does not carry the same dark portents.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
12 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
There’s a sense of foreboding and dread.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
13 Jan. 2026
-
Of course, the dread is always worse.—
Nell Frizzell,
Vogue,
13 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Suamataia’s performance was promising enough that Kansas City moved Thuney to the Chicago Bears in March.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
8 Jan. 2026
-
Those vulnerabilities allow predators an opportunity to gain the trust of victims of any age by promising to meet those needs or to provide safety, housing or affection.—
Kaitlin McCallum,
Hartford Courant,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Even his smile is sinister in the English actor’s current reign of cinematic terror.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
14 Jan. 2026
-
This is not the gleeful dance party of purgatory—there is a more sinister and sincere quality to it.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The youngest chewing-gum seller would adopt the conspiratorial tones of a seasoned Kremlinologist, seeing signs and premonitions in every event.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 Jan. 2026
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Gunnar Nelson and Matthew Nelson still wonder if their father, former teen idol Ricky Nelson, had a premonition before his tragic demise.—
Stephanie Nolasco,
FOXNews.com,
31 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Like these forerunners, the pleasures of Knight’s A Thousand Blows, which premiered all six episodes of its second season on Hulu Friday, lies in looking back on that thin sliver of time, about 15 years ago, when anachronistic old-timey crime was in vogue.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
9 Jan. 2026
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The League of Nations was the forerunner to the UN and is famous among historians for its formation after the wreckage of World War I and its almost immediate failure to prevent the rise of authoritarianism in the 1930s that gave way to World War II.—
Sasha Rogelberg,
Fortune,
5 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Foreboding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/foreboding. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.
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