Skip to content

ominous

/ˈɑmɪnəs/adjective3 syllables

Ominous means: threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments.

Synonyms for ominous26

adjective, as in threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

baleful, forbidding, menacing, minacious, minatory, sinister, threatening, alarming

adjective, as in presaging ill fortune

ill, inauspicious, unpropitious

also used for ominous

momentous, omenic, portentous, big, central, consequential, critical, crucial, epochful, essential, augurous, bodeful, boding, dire, disastrous

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What does ominous mean?2

adjective

1

threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments“a baleful look”

2

presaging ill fortune“ill omens”

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Ominous in a sentence

  • It's an ominous sign that only dystopias, not utopias, are being written lately.rul
  • The ominous thunderstorm in the distance was gaining speed and strength.meirad
  • From somewhere in the distance came an ominous rumble.AlanF_US
  • They all interpreted the presence of that owl as an ominous premonition.BRCoolata
  • The sky looks ominous. I wonder if it will rain.fcbond
  • After the doctor's ominous statement, it was clear that he had some gloomy news for the patient.Rawrren
  • Somehow the silent snow, the waning traffic, the oncoming twilight, combined into a sense of ominous portent.Cangarejo
  • His ominous words did not deter Mary.shekitten

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.