ominous

adjective

om·​i·​nous ˈä-mə-nəs 

: being or exhibiting an omen : portentous

especially : foreboding or foreshadowing evil : inauspicious

ominously adverb

ominousness noun

Did you know?

Ominous didn't always mean that something bad was about to happen. If you look closely, you can see the omen in ominous, which gave it the original meaning of "being a sign of events to come"—whether good or bad. It ultimately comes from the Latin word omen, which is both an ancestor and a synonym of our omen. Today, however, ominous suggests a menacing or threatening aspect. Its synonyms portentous and fateful are used similarly, but ominous is the most menacing of the three. It implies an alarming quality that foreshadows evil or disaster. So when something wicked this way comes, count on ominous to deliver the news aforehand.

Synonyms

• baleful
• dire
• direful
• doomy
• foreboding
• ill
• ill-boding
• inauspicious
• menacing
• minatory
• portentous
• sinister
• threatening

Choose the Right Synonym for 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

Examples of ominous in a Sentence

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

an ominous threat of war

He spoke in ominous tones.

Recent Examples on the Web

But by reciting the proposal again and again, Trump might be setting in motion very real—and extremely ominous—consequences for the West Bank and the entire region. —Hussein Ibish, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2025

The historian Janis Mimura saw something more ominous: a new, proactive union of industry and governmental power, wherein the state would drive aggressive industrial policy at the expense of liberal norms. —Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2025

And kidney failure is a common and especially ominous sign in older people hospitalized with pneumonia, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco. —Emma Bubola, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2025

Both shows tap into emotions that are more sinister, and psychological reflexes inside us that are more ominous. —Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 13 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

see omen

First Known Use

1580, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for ominous

• abdominis

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Kids Definition

ominous

adjective

om·​i·​nous ˈäm-ə-nəs 

: being or showing a sign of evil or misfortune to come

ominous clouds

ominously adverb