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baleful

bale·ful
B b

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [beyl-fuh l]
    • /ˈbeɪl fəl/
    • /ˈbeɪl.fəl/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [beyl-fuh l]
    • /ˈbeɪl fəl/

Definitions of baleful word

  • adjective baleful Baleful means harmful, or expressing harmful intentions. 3
  • adjective baleful harmful, menacing, or vindictive 3
  • adjective baleful dejected 3
  • adjective baleful harmful or threatening harm or evil; ominous; deadly 3
  • adjective baleful sorrowful; wretched 3
  • adjective baleful full of menacing or malign influences; pernicious. 1

Information block about the term

Origin of baleful

First appearance:

before 1000
One of the 6% oldest English words
before 1000; Middle English; Old English bealofull. See bale2, -ful

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Baleful

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

baleful popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 69% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

baleful usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for baleful

adj baleful

  • calamitous — If you describe an event or situation as calamitous, you mean it is very unfortunate or serious.
  • deadly — If something is deadly, it is likely or able to cause someone's death, or has already caused someone's death.
  • dire — causing or involving great fear or suffering; dreadful; terrible: a dire calamity.
  • foreboding — a prediction; portent.
  • harmful — causing or capable of causing harm; injurious: a harmful idea; a harmful habit.

adjective baleful

  • menacing — something that threatens to cause evil, harm, injury, etc.; a threat: Air pollution is a menace to health.
  • spiteful — full of spite or malice; showing spite; malicious; malevolent; venomous: a spiteful child.

Antonyms for baleful

adj baleful

  • advantageous — If something is advantageous to you, it is likely to benefit you.
  • auspicious — Something that is auspicious indicates that success is likely.
  • promising — giving favorable promise; likely to turn out well: a promising young man; a promising situation.
  • favorable — characterized by approval or support; positive: a favorable report.
  • good — Graph-Oriented Object Database

adjective baleful

  • benevolent — If you describe a person in authority as benevolent, you mean that they are kind and fair.
  • favourable — Pleasing, encouraging or approving.

Top questions with baleful

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See also

Matching words

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