portentous

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It sounded portentous -- final.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Of the nature of or constituting a portent; foreboding: "The present aspect of society is portentous of great change” (Edward Bellamy).
  2. adjective Full of unspecifiable significance; exciting wonder and awe: "Such a portentous and mysterious monster roused all my curiosity” (Herman Melville).
  3. adjective Marked by pompousness; pretentiously weighty.

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Examples (50)

  • The franchise trademarks -- portentous dialogue, pointless mythologizing, and wholesale cribbing from other stories -- remain, but dressed up in medieval armor and splattered with blood, they become surprisingly enjoyable, crossing the B-movie line from leaden over to almost zesty. —  Filmcritic.com Movie Reviews
  • When you saw the ring on his finger only, the circumstance was pregnant--portentous. —  The Paternoster Ruby
  • It sounded doubtless, and of a sudden, a little portentous--as was in fact testified to by his lordship's quick stiff stare, full of wonder at so free a note. —  The Outcry
  • To his wife this unnatural joy was portentous--she remembered that he had been like this just before little Willie died. —  Life of Abraham Lincoln Little Blue Book Ten Cent Pocket Series No. 324
  • Some considered it as a portentous omen of the wrath of Heaven in vengeance denounced against the land, others as the immediate harbinger of the last day, when 'the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light Not only over the land, but out at sea also, the unnatural darkness of the day and night of May 19, 1780, was observed. —  Our Day In the Light of Prophecy
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

ominous ·  terrify ·  awful ·  unearthly ·  startle ·  momentous ·  stupendous ·  solemn ·  lurid ·  terrific ·  astound ·  majestic
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Old French portenteux = Spanish Portuguese Italian portentoso, from Latin portentosus, monstrous, portentous, from portentum, a portent: see portent.
 

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/poʊrˈtɛntəs/
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