ominous

adjective om·i·nous \ˈä-mə-nəs\

: suggesting that something bad is going to happen in the future

Full Definition of OMINOUS

: being or exhibiting an omen : portentous; especially : foreboding or foreshadowing evil : inauspicious

— om·i·nous·ly adverb

— om·i·nous·ness noun

See ominous defined for English-language learners

See ominous defined for kids

Examples of OMINOUS

Not many sets of initials became universally recognizable during the twentieth century, and those that did often had ominous overtones, from SS to KGB. —Geoffrey Wheatcroft, Atlantic, March 2001
While politicians and multinational corporations extol the virtues of NAFTA … the ominous curtain is already up in a six-mile section at the border crossing at Mexicali … —Leslie Marmon Silko, Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit, 1996
Fighting against sensations that sought to claim him, he moved nervously and the note in his hand rattled with a dry and ominous whisper. —Richard Wright, Rite of Passage, 1994
Arranged in two long and ominous rows, the branding irons dangled from the ceiling in the center of the room, suggesting some sort of fence or jail … —Lewis H. Lapham, Harper's, May 1993
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Origin of OMINOUS

(see omen)

First Known Use: 1580

Related to OMINOUS

Synonyms: baleful, dire, direful, doomy, foreboding, ill, ill-boding, inauspicious, menacing, minatory, portentous, sinister, threatening

Antonyms: unthreatening

Synonym Discussion of OMINOUS

ominous, portentous, fateful mean having a menacing or threatening aspect. ominous implies having a menacing, alarming character foreshadowing evil or disaster <ominous rumblings from the volcano>. portentous suggests being frighteningly big or impressive but now seldom definitely connotes forewarning of calamity <an eerie and portentous stillness>. fateful suggests being of momentous or decisive importance <the fateful conference that led to war>.

OMINOUS Defined for Kids

ominous

adjective om·i·nous \ˈä-mə-nəs\

Definition of OMINOUS for Kids

: considered a sign of evil or trouble to come <… the clouds there seemed to be growing darker, massing in ominous grey mounds with a yellowish tinge. — Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising>

— om·i·nous·ly adverb