ominous

US /ˈɑmənəs/ UK /ˈɒmɪnəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
giving the impression that something bad is about to happen; threatening

Ominous clouds gathered over the harbour before the gale.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · giving the impression that... threatening menacing foreboding portentous sinister baleful inauspicious unpropitious

Opposites

auspicious promising favorable propitious encouraging

Word family

Forms ominously

Derived forms ominouslyominousness

Related forms omen abominate

Simplified etymology

Ominous entered English in the late 16th century and is related to omen. It belongs to the same historical word family as Latin abominari, “to regard as a bad omen,” from which abominable developed.

Etymology

From Latin 'ominosus' ('full of foreboding'), from 'omen' (genitive 'ominis', 'a portent'), plus the adjectival suffix '-osus'.

ominosus Latin omen Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# ominous

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈɑmənəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɒmɪnəs/

## Meanings
1. giving the impression that something bad is about to happen; threatening

## Examples
- Ominous clouds gathered over the harbour before the gale.

## Synonyms
- threatening
- menacing
- foreboding
- portentous
- sinister
- baleful
- inauspicious
- unpropitious

## Antonyms
- auspicious
- promising
- favorable
- propitious
- encouraging

## Derived Forms
- ominously
- ominousness

## Related Forms
- omen
- abominate

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: ominosus
- Root: omen

## Etymology
From Latin 'ominosus' ('full of foreboding'), from 'omen' (genitive 'ominis', 'a portent'), plus the adjectival suffix '-osus'.

## AI Etymology
Ominous comes from Latin 'ominosus' ('full of foreboding'), from 'omen' (genitive 'ominis', 'a portent'), plus the adjectival suffix '-osus'. The etymological trail includes Latin ominosus and Latin omen. As an adjective, ominous means giving the impression that something bad is about to happen; threatening. The same family is visible in derived forms such as ominously and ominousness and related forms such as omen and abominate.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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