Synonyms of ominous

ominous

adjective

ˈä-mə-nəs 

as in sinister

being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come

that comment about downsizing from the company president sounded ominous

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective ominous differ from other similar words?

The words fateful and portentous are common synonyms of ominous. While all three words mean "having a menacing or threatening aspect," ominous implies having a menacing, alarming character foreshadowing evil or disaster.

ominous rumblings from the volcano

Where would fateful be a reasonable alternative to ominous?

The words fateful and ominous can be used in similar contexts, but fateful suggests being of momentous or decisive importance.

the fateful conference that led to war

When can portentous be used instead of ominous?

Although the words portentous and ominous have much in common, portentous suggests being frighteningly big or impressive but now seldom definitely connotes forewarning of calamity.

an eerie and portentous stillness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of ominous

The scene opened with a cloaked figure trudging through dark city streets as ominous holiday tunes emanate from the surrounding businesses. — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 23 July 2026

On just one unchanging set, an old-time concert hall designed by Rachel Hauck and made appropriately ominous, a tiny ensemble enacts a whole Greek tragedy of love and sacrifice that goes from the land of the living to the underworld and back. — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 22 July 2026

The trailer gives way to various clips of the girl and her family trying to distinguish between the real mommy, also played by Chastain, and the ominous other mommy. — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 21 July 2026

Things are also tough for their friends, Elle (Yasmin Finney) and Tao (William Gao), whose constant bickering seems to be an ominous portent for their on-again-off-again relationship. — David MacK, CNN Money, 17 July 2026

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