as in unfavorable
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Recent Examples of unpropitious
Handing the baton to Harris at this unpropitious time for Democrats is like Napoleon’s handing off his military command to Marshal Ney to conduct the disastrous French retreat from Moscow in 1812, featuring 500,000 French casualties.
—
Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 23 July 2024
Here are a handful of quick Thesaurus pulls to help paint a picture of how the unit played: unpropitious, cataclysmic, demoralizing, execrable.
—Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, 9 Jan. 2023
The exhausted refugees are greeted by a functionary of the Relief Committee with the unpropitious nickname Statistics Babu.
—Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 26 Dec. 2022
That will be an unpropitious setting for launching a network: if the teams are unclear on the goal, the risk of confusion is considerable.
—Steve Denning, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2021
JoyFish sits in a strip mall in an unpropitious space that has seen several restaurants come and go.
—Tan Vinh, The Seattle Times, 11 July 2017
Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 23 July 2024
Here are a handful of quick Thesaurus pulls to help paint a picture of how the unit played: unpropitious, cataclysmic, demoralizing, execrable.
—Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, 9 Jan. 2023
The exhausted refugees are greeted by a functionary of the Relief Committee with the unpropitious nickname Statistics Babu.
—Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 26 Dec. 2022
That will be an unpropitious setting for launching a network: if the teams are unclear on the goal, the risk of confusion is considerable.
—Steve Denning, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2021
JoyFish sits in a strip mall in an unpropitious space that has seen several restaurants come and go.
—Tan Vinh, The Seattle Times, 11 July 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unpropitious
Adjective
-
Just remember that Joe Biden’s administration had four years to open the files and disclose any possible news unfavorable to the Republicans.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
9 Jan. 2026
-
While 48% of the respondents who had heard of Talarico viewed him positively and 18% viewed him negatively, 48% of respondents familiar with Crockett had an unfavorable impression compared with the 40% who viewed her positively.—
John C. Moritz,
Austin American Statesman,
5 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
In short, the future feels scary and unpromising.—
Kian Bakhtiari,
Forbes.com,
1 Sep. 2025
-
But no money was appropriated for reading reform beyond that amount, which would suggest an unpromising future for state support of reading reforms.—
Alan J. Borsuk,
jsonline.com,
30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Their status has been diminished by what has — charitably — been a really discouraging decade, featuring two separate relegations.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
9 Jan. 2026
-
High taxes squeeze margins and send a discouraging signal to firms.—
Andrew Rein,
New York Daily News,
6 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
To vocalize the belief that the lawsuit was partisan politics instead of concerned citizens speaking up, is very disheartening.—
Don Stacom,
Hartford Courant,
7 Jan. 2026
-
And if that weren’t bad enough, Kansas City got some disheartening injury news after the game that will make quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ life even more difficult.—
Michael Gallagher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Felicity Thoughtful, impulsive, hopeless romantic whose hair choices overshadowed everything.—
Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal,
Parents,
19 Jan. 2026
-
Other people were staring at the ground, hopeless.—
Kristi Miller,
Twin Cities,
13 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
This episode is disappointingly cheerless overall—it’s not frosted, tinsely, glowing, silver with bells and mist, or snowy.—
Jenny Singer,
Glamour,
3 Nov. 2025
-
For three days, things were cheerless for Courtney Williams.—
Mike Cook,
Twin Cities,
28 May 2025
Adjective
-
Secondary additions After a dismal showing on defense this season, Texas State made changes to its staff, hiring Will Windham as defensive coordinator and Marcus Patton as a secondary coach.—
Caleb Yum,
Austin American Statesman,
21 Jan. 2026
-
But the dismal passage rate for the new group of for-profit nursing programs — 57%, as of 2024 — dragged Florida’s overall passage rate to the very bottom of a 50-state ranking.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
20 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
January can be a notoriously gloomy time; Arctic temperatures, constant rain, the list goes on.—
Olivia Allen,
Vogue,
15 Jan. 2026
-
When the King visited Greenland in April—looking jaunty and at ease while cruising on a fjord with the Prime Minister, and taking a coffee-and-cake break with locals at a cultural center in Nuuk—the contrast with Vance’s gloomy trip couldn’t have been starker.—
Margaret Talbot,
New Yorker,
11 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unpropitious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unpropitious. Accessed 24 Jan. 2026.
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