portentous

Examples

• All

• Which seems portentous now, as if she'd known we three would be sitting here.

  Fiction book (1990)

• With the intrusion of this portentous creature, all the tedium and anxiety of his life had fallen away.

  Fiction book (1998)

• There are still living connections with that remarkable and portentous year.

  Academic text (2012)

• "Tell me one thing," he said in deep and portentous tones.

  Fiction book (1999)

• Now, I know that this is both vague and portentous.

  Academic text (1997)

• The summer of the year 1783 was an amazing and portentous one, full of horrible phenomena...

  Academic text (2010)

• Wash tends to state the obvious in a grave, portentous manner, the self-commissioned voice of wisdom.

  Fiction book (1994)

• David Van Tieghem's metallic music lends a portentous air to the proceedings.

  Blog text (13)

• Now a bowl had been transformed into a fearsome, portentous object that held the most powerful and ominous contents imaginable.

  Academic text (2015)

• The dark clouds gathered in a portentous way, signaling an impending storm.

Synonyms

O

ominous

vsportentous

96 6.4

Makes you feel that something bad will happen

adds a sense of importance or fate to that warning impression

F

fateful

vsportentous

48 6.5

Very important for the future and often causing bad results

signals or warns about important forthcoming events rather than being the event itself

P

prophetic

vsportentous

33 7.4

Saying or showing what will happen in the future, often as if from a spiritual source

warns or signals upcoming importance rather than claiming precise prediction

F

foreboding

vsportentous

9 7.3

Making you feel that something bad will happen

can be less emotional and more formal while still warning of bad events

P

premonitory

vsportentous

1 9.8

A sign that warns of something bad that may happen

gives a broader warning or sign, not always as direct or specific

P

precursory

vsportentous

1 8.1

A sign that something bad may happen

is similar but often signals importance as well as mere early indication

P

prophetical

vsportentous

• Literature

1 9.1

Saying that something will happen in the future, often by a religious person

is more about signaling important bad signs than about explicit divine prediction

H

heraldic

vsportentous

9.1

Showing that something will happen

focuses more on warning of important or ominous outcomes rather than simple announcement

P

prefigurative

vsportentous

• Literature

9.9

Suggests or shows what will happen later in a vague, symbolic way

is clearer and more direct about warning of important bad events

D

doomful

vsportentous

• Archaic

7.9

Giving a strong feeling that something bad will happen

can be milder, signalling important future events without inevitable disaster

A

apocalyptical

vsportentous

9.4

Describing a future with great destruction and the end of the world

covers warning of important bad events but is less extreme and apocalyptic

Antonyms

U

unremarkable

20 3.5

Being ordinary and not interesting

How Ominous

apocalyptic

61 8.6

foreboding

9 8.0

portentous

• Formal

4 8.6

ominous

96 6.4

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology