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ominous

om·i·nous
O o

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [om-uh-nuh s]
    • /ˈɒm ə nəs/
    • /ˈɒm.ɪ.nəs/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [om-uh-nuh s]
    • /ˈɒm ə nəs/

Definitions of ominous word

  • adjective ominous portending evil or harm; foreboding; threatening; inauspicious: an ominous bank of dark clouds. 1
  • adjective ominous indicating the nature of a future event, for good or evil; having the significance of an omen; being a portent: Some of these events were immediately ominous, while others only later revealed themselves as such. 1
  • noun ominous Giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; threatening; inauspicious. 1
  • adjective ominous threatening, bad sign 1
  • adjective ominous If you describe something as ominous, you mean that it worries you because it makes you think that something unpleasant is going to happen. 0
  • adjective ominous foreboding evil 0

Information block about the term

Origin of ominous

First appearance:

before 1580
One of the 35% oldest English words
1580-90; < Latin ōminōsus portentous, equivalent to ōmin- (stem of ōmen) omen + -ōsus -ous

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Ominous

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

ominous popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 92% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

ominous usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for ominous

adjective ominous

  • threatening — tending or intended to menace: threatening gestures.
  • warning — the act or utterance of one who warns or the existence, appearance, sound, etc., of a thing that warns.
  • worrying — to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret.
  • gloomy — dark or dim; deeply shaded: gloomy skies.
  • portentous — of the nature of a portent; momentous.

Antonyms for ominous

adjective ominous

  • promising — giving favorable promise; likely to turn out well: a promising young man; a promising situation.
  • bright — A bright colour is strong and noticeable, and not dark.
  • cheerful — Someone who is cheerful is happy and shows this in their behaviour.
  • encouraging — Giving someone support or confidence; supportive.
  • good — Graph-Oriented Object Database

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See also

Matching words

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