[syn: ill, inauspicious, ominous]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Ominous \Om"i*nous\, a. [L. ominosus, fr. omen. See Omen.]
Of or pertaining to an omen or to omens; being or exhibiting
an omen; significant; portentous; -- formerly used both in a
favorable and unfavorable sense; now chiefly in the latter;
foreboding or foreshowing evil; inauspicious; as, an ominous
dread.
[1913 Webster]
He had a good ominous name to have made a peace.
--Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
In the heathen worship of God, a sacrifice without a
heart was accounted ominous. --South.
[1913 Webster] -- Om"i*nous*ly, adv. -- Om"i*nous*ness,
n.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
ominous
adj 1: 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" [syn: baleful, forbidding,
menacing, minacious, minatory, ominous,
sinister, threatening]
2: 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"
[syn: ill, inauspicious, ominous]