Synonyms of foreboding

foreboding 1 of 3

adjective

as in ominous

being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come

foreboding clouds began to gather

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

foreboding

2 of 3

noun

(ˌ)fȯr-ˈbō-diŋ 

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

• feel
• premonition
• fear
• suspicion
• worry
• presentiment
• anticipation
• anxiety
• presage
• prognostication
• portent
• intuition
• omen
• apprehension
• unease
• insight
• sign
• foreknowledge
• impression
• uneasiness
• concern
• dread
• doubt
• nervousness
• apprehensiveness
• perturbation
• agitation
• alarm
• disquiet
• augury
• anxiousness
• foresight
• misgiving
• prescience
• care

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

• portent
• forerunner
• foreshadowing
• omen
• hint
• precursor
• prediction
• presage
• suggestion
• augury
• boding
• herald
• prefiguring
• prophecy
• straw in the wind
• harbinger
• intimation
• inkling
• auspice
• badge
• foretaste
• forewarning
• forecast
• prognostication
• foretelling
• token
• divination
• mark
• note

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

• dread
• worry
• anxiety
• uncertainty
• fearfulness
• unease
• apprehension
• concern
• apprehensiveness
• alarm
• misgiving
• suspense
• uneasiness
• perturbation
• distress
• doubt
• disquiet
• funk
• disquietude
• wariness
• agitation
• mistrust
• disturbance
• pessimism
• solicitude
• premonition
• anxiousness
• defeatism
• presentiment
• suspiciousness
• incertitude
• foreknowledge
• scruple
• presage

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• anticipation
• excitement
• hope
• hopefulness
• optimism
• confidence
• sanguinity

foreboding

3 of 3

verb

variants also forboding

present participle of forebode

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

• promising
• boding
• auguring
• predicting
• presaging
• foretelling
• warning
• bidding fair
• foreshadowing
• portending
• forecasting
• prophesying
• forewarning
• prognosticating
• betokening
• foreseeing
• divining
• anticipating
• intimating
• prefiguring
• hinting
• indicating
• alluding
• implying
• connoting
• foreknowing
• harbingering
• signifying
• presignifying
• insinuating
• suggesting

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of foreboding

Adjective

Earle’s approach, after all, is designed to transport us, to place us in lush, fairy-tale-like environments that contain an ever-so-slightly foreboding atmosphere. — Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2026

Alligator Alcatraz’s foreboding name and the ensuing memes led to social media chatter and merchandise, making the site a tourist attraction for some in the Everglades. — Miami Herald, 25 June 2026

Noun

As a result, the duo has written an exposé chock-full of anecdotes and reporting that range from the foreboding and concerning to the voyeuristic and absurd. — Joseph Konig, PEOPLE, 1 July 2026

After dazzling in their opening match of this World Cup and dispatching Croatia 4-2, some felt a sense of foreboding when Ghana held Thomas Tuchel’s side to a 0-0 draw in their second. — Liam Tharme, New York Times, 30 June 2026

Verb

There was no obvious precipitating event, but the encroachment of Grok seemed foreboding. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 14 Mar. 2026

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