OMINOUS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ominous mean? 

• OMINOUS (adjective)
  The adjective OMINOUS has 2 senses:

1. threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

2. presaging ill fortune

  Familiarity information: OMINOUS used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OMINOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

Synonyms:

baleful; forbidding; menacing; minacious; minatory; ominous; sinister; threatening

Context example:

the situation became ugly

Similar:

alarming (frightening because of an awareness of danger)

Derivation:

omen (a sign of something about to happen)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Presaging ill fortune

Synonyms:

ill; inauspicious; ominous

Context example:

a by-election at a time highly unpropitious for the Government

Similar:

unpropitious (not propitious)

Derivation:

omen (a sign of something about to happen)

 Context examples 

That nothing moved nor sounded, seemed ominous.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“K.,” said Mr. Spiker, with an ominous look.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There was an ominous and worried expression on their faces.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A ground sea was heard; the thunder of its progress, as the waters rolled and swelled beneath me, became every moment more ominous and terrific.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The ominous figure galloped up once more alongside of our curricle, but this time his mission was a more amiable one.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My heart sank at that ominous stillness.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A roar of applause from the English soldiers, with an ominous silence from the vast crowd who pressed round the barriers, announced that the balance of victory lay with the holders.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and shall not forget this night....

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

There might have been cause for maternal anxiety, if Demi had not given convincing proofs that he was a true boy, as well as a budding philosopher, for often, after a discussion which caused Hannah to prophesy, with ominous nods, That child ain't long for this world, he would turn about and set her fears at rest by some of the pranks with which dear, dirty, naughty little rascals distract and delight their parent's souls.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)