Definitions for ominous
ˈɒm ə nəsomi·nous

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:3.0 / 2 votes

1. baleful, forbidding, menacing, minacious, minatory, ominous, sinister, threateningadjective

   threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

   "a baleful look"; "forbidding thunderclouds"; "his tone became menacing"; "ominous rumblings of discontent"; "sinister storm clouds"; "a sinister smile"; "his threatening behavior"; "ugly black clouds"; "the situation became ugly"

2. ill, inauspicious, ominousadjective

   presaging ill fortune

   "ill omens"; "ill predictions"; "my words with inauspicious thunderings shook heaven"- P.B.Shelley; "a dead and ominous silence prevailed"; "a by-election at a time highly unpropitious for the Government"

WiktionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 2 votes

1. ominousadjective

   Of or pertaining to an omen or to omens; being or exhibiting an omen; significant.

2. ominousadjective

   Specifically, giving indication of a coming ill; being an evil omen; threatening; portentous; inauspicious.

3. Etymology: From ominosus, from omen, from os + -men

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Ominousadjective

   Etymology: from omen.

   1. Exhibiting bad tokens of futurity; foreshewing ill; inauspicious.

   Let me be duke of Clarence;
   For Glo’ster’s dukedom is ominous. William Shakespeare, Henry VI.

   Pomfret, thou bloody prison,
   Fatal and ominous to noble peers. William Shakespeare, Rich. III.

   These accidents the more rarely they happen, the more ominous are they esteemed, because they are never observed but when sad events do ensue. John Hayward.

   Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,
   He last betakes him to this ominous wood. John Milton, Poems.

   As in the heathen worship of God, a sacrifice without an heart was accounted ominous; so in the christian worship of him, an heart without a sacrifice is worthless. Robert South, Serm.

   Pardon a father’s tears,
   And give them to Charinus’ memory;
   May they not prove as ominous to thee. Dryden.

   2. Exhibiting tokens good or ill.

   Though he had a good ominous name to have made a peace, nothing followed. Francis Bacon, Henry VII.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. ominous

   An omen (also called portent) is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient times, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages from the gods.These omens include natural phenomena, for example an eclipse, abnormal births of animals (especially humans) and behaviour of the sacrificial lamb on its way to the slaughter. Specialists, known as diviners, variously existed to interpret these omens. They would also use an artificial method, for example, a clay model of a sheep liver, to communicate with their gods in times of crisis. They would expect a binary answer, either yes or no, favourable or unfavourable. They did these to predict what would happen in the future and to take action to avoid disaster.Though the word omen is usually devoid of reference to the change's nature, hence being possibly either "good" or "bad", the term is more often used in a foreboding sense, as with the word ominous. The word comes from its Latin equivalent omen, of otherwise uncertain origin.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. Ominous

   om′in-us, adj. pertaining to, or containing, an omen: foreboding evil: inauspicious.—adv. Om′inously.—n. Om′inousness.

Anagrams for ominous »

1. mousoni

How to pronounce ominous?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say ominous in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of ominous in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of ominous in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of ominous in a Sentence

1. Abdullah Karasu:

   But I doubt it's finished ... This silence is ominous. It's almost as unnerving as the rockets landing.

2. David Joy:

   The message that financials are sending about growth is more ominous, banks are a proxy for the outlook for growth. And the outlook is diminishing.

3. Jasmine Crenshaw:

   The statements made by the deputy police chief and the event’s ostentatious show of power send an ominous, frightening message: that, as an official stance, law enforcement will not tolerate expressions acknowledging our nation’s history of unequal treatment and systematic oppression, the magnitude of this event chills the belief that police should be held accountable when they abuse their power or discriminate against people of color, and pressures student athletes to act as props of the police.

4. Srikanth Kondapalli:

   The second informal meeting as such is significant given these ominous signals at bilateral, regional and global levels, stabilizing relations is important as both are seized with a number of issues – domestic as well as regional.

5. George Santayana:

   For an idea ever to be fashionable is ominous, since it must afterwards be always old-fashioned.

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