Synonyms for ominous
ˈɒm ə nəsomi·nous

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. ominousadjective

   Synonyms:
   threatening, portentous

2. ominousadjective

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

   Synonyms:
   threatening, portentous

3. ominousadjective

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

   Synonyms:
   portentous, threatening

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. ominous

   Synonyms:
   portentous, suggestive, threatening, foreboding, premonitory, unpropitious

   Antonyms:
   auspicious, propitious, encouraging

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:3.5 / 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"

   Synonyms:
   grim, inauspicious, sullen, minacious, baneful, lowering, black, baleful, dark, sinister, heavy, minatory, dour, menacing, ill, forbidding, threatening

   Antonyms:
   unalarming, propitious

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"

   Synonyms:
   baleful, threatening, sick, minacious, ill, inauspicious, untoward, forbidding, minatory, menacing, sinister, adverse, unfortunate

   Antonyms:
   propitious, unalarming

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. ominousadjective

   Synonyms:
   portentous, monitory, premonitory

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. ominousadjective

   Synonyms:
   portentous, monitory, premonitory, threatening

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "ominous":

   sinister, worrying, disturbing, worrisome, alarming

How to pronounce ominous?

How to say ominous in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use ominous in a sentence?

1. President George H.W. Bush:

   I remember very quiet nights at the dinner table, george was weighing grim scenarios and ominous intelligence about potentially even more devastating attacks.

2. 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.

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. George Santayana:

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

5. Sam Bullard:

   We don't think it will detract from the possibility that the Fed is considering a September rate hike, only if we saw ominous signs of a deterioration elsewhere in the data.