ominous

ominous — ominous, portentous, fateful, inauspicious, unpropitious basically mean having a menacing or threatening character or quality. What is ominous has or seems to have the character of an omen, especially of an omen forecasting evil; the term… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

Ominous — Om i*nous, a. [L. ominosus, fr. omen. See {Omen}.] Of or pertaining to an omen or to omens; being or exhibiting an omen; significant; portentous; formerly used both in a favorable and unfavorable sense; now chiefly in the latter; foreboding or… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

ominous — [äm′ə nəs] adj. [L ominosus] of or serving as an omen; esp., having the character of an evil omen; threatening; sinister ominously adv. ominousness n. SYN. OMINOUS implies a threatening character but does not necessarily connote a disastrous… …   English World dictionary

ominous — I adjective adverse, alarming, augurial, auspicial, baleful, bodeful, dangerous, dark, depressing, dire, direful, disastrous, dismaying, dispiriting, disquieting, disturbing, divinatory, fatidic, fatidical, fear inspiring, fearful, forbidding,… …   Law dictionary

ominous — (adj.) 1580s, from L. ominosus full of foreboding, from omen (gen. ominis) foreboding (see OMEN (Cf. omen)). Related: Ominousness …   Etymology dictionary

ominous — [adj] menacing, foreboding apocalyptic, augural, baleful, baneful, clouded, dangerous, dark, dire, direful, dismal, doomed, doomful, fateful, fearful, forbidding, gloomy, grim, haunting, hostile, ill boding, ill fated, impending, inauspicious,… …   New thesaurus

ominous — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ giving the worrying impression that something bad is going to happen. DERIVATIVES ominously adverb ominousness noun. ORIGIN Latin ominosus, from omen omen …   English terms dictionary

ominous — adjective ominous clouds Syn: threatening, menacing, baleful, forbidding, sinister, inauspicious, unpropitious, unfavorable, unpromising; portentous, foreboding, fateful, premonitory; black, dark, gloomy; formal minatory; literary direful; rare… …   Thesaurus of popular words

ominous — ominously, adv. ominousness, n. /om euh neuhs/, adj. 1. portending evil or harm; foreboding; threatening; inauspicious: an ominous bank of dark clouds. 2. having the significance of an omen. [1580 90; < L ominosus portentous, equiv. to omin (s.… …   Universalium

ominous — adjective Date: 1580 being or exhibiting an omen ; portentous; especially foreboding or foreshadowing evil ; inauspicious • ominously adverb • ominousness noun Synonyms: ominous, portentous, fateful mean havi …   New Collegiate Dictionary

ominous — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) adj. inauspicious, bodeful, fateful. See warning, prediction, threat. Ant., unthreatening. II (Roget s IV) modif. Syn. foreboding, portentous, threatening, forbidding, fateful, baleful, menacing,… …   English dictionary for students