Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a portentous manner; ominously; monstrously; wonderfully.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb In an ominous manner.
  • adverb In a pompous manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb in a portentous manner

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

portentous +‎ -ly

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Examples

  • Conversely, conversions to Catholicism have been dwarfed by these losses.27 More portentously, the average age of Catholic converts today is about sixty-five, suggesting that conversion to Catholicism was largely a phenomenon of the 1950s and 1960s, when non-Catholics marrying Catholics were expected to convert.

    American Grace Robert D. Putnam 2010

  • The promo for next week intoned portentously that "more SECRETS will be revealed ...", which made me roll my eyes a bit.

    What Did You Think of the Series Premiere of FlashForward? 2009

  • Other plazas play host to the good and the bad as in Beijing's Tian'anmen Square in 1989 basking portentously in the post-Soviet glow of an explosive democratic freedom only to bleed a few days later into a convenient corral for firing squads.

    Paul Gunther: Tahrir Square-- Where Social Media Found a Footing: Traditional Urban Plazas as Crucible of Change Paul Gunther 2011

  • Other plazas play host to the good and the bad as in Beijing's Tian'anmen Square in 1989 basking portentously in the post-Soviet glow of an explosive democratic freedom only to bleed a few days later into a convenient corral for firing squads.

    Paul Gunther: Tahrir Square-- Where Social Media Found a Footing: Traditional Urban Plazas as Crucible of Change Paul Gunther 2011

  • This is the terrible spectre which Mr. John Graham Brooks sees looming portentously over the twentieth-century world.

    THE SCAB 2010

  • These well-meaning interventionists, after some deliberation, would declare portentously that this citizenry were in dire need of the assistance of the state.

    Mexico's endless Pacific beach: sun, surf, sand, seafood and solitude 2009

  • However, in a chapter portentously titled “How to Be a Sportscaster When You Grow Up,” the authors not only manage to outshine expectations with some enjoyable advice, they also preach the following:

    The Enthusiast 2010

  • With a flourish of trumpets, the portentously-named All-Party Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism has begun its hearings.

    Archive 2009-11-01 2009

  • Roy Hodgson has a wild and frazzled look, like a minor character in a disaster movie who keeps popping up babbling portentously and is routinely shunned and disparaged, but who then gets to cackle with an air of demented triumph when the sky finally darkens with radioactive bees.

    Wayne Rooney, Americans and the terrible burden of ambition Barney Ronay 2010

  • Louis surveyed me with his shrewd grey eyes, and shook his head portentously.

    Chapter 13 2010

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