ominousadj.
/ˈɒmɪnəs/, U.S. /ˈɑmənəs/ 1. † c. Marked or attended by ill fortune; disastrous, ruinous. Obsolete.
a. Of ill omen, inauspicious; indicative or suggestive of future misfortune.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > inauspicious
perilousc1390
unlucky1519
unchancy1533
unhappy1533
infortunate1548
sinistrous?c1550
luckless1584
dismal1588
ominous1589
fatal1590
bad-bodinga1592
disastrous1598
inauspicious1599
black1604
naught1620
inauspicate1632
infaustous1656
infaust1658
ill-omened1685
black boding1743
wanchancy1768
oracular1820
inominous1832
widdershins1926
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > disappointment > lack of promise > [adjective] > inauspicious
traversanta1500
ominous1589
inauspicious1599
unpropitious1613
unauspiciousa1616
obscene1656
traversary1851
1589 W. Warner Albions Eng. (new ed.) vi. xxx. 135 If ought fore-sayd be ominous, should any feare, tis I.
1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 ii. vi. 107 Let me be Duke of Clarence, George of Gloster, For Glosters Dukedome is too ominous.
1609 Morindos ii. 11 These dismall and ominous reuelations.
1666 J. Davies tr. C. de Rochefort Hist. Caribby-Islands 321 If..a dog, as one would say, did bark at them, thinking it ominous, they immediately return.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) I. xiv. 91 There is an ominous fatality in it, which even the spurious descendants of the family cannot escape.
1835 I. Taylor Spiritual Despotism i. 6 The brightest and the fondest hopes we entertain..hang upon the auspicious or ominous aspect of English Christianity.
1894 H. James Lesson of Master (1948) viii. 99 Her ominous name was Miss Hurter.
1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 89 The evening seems ominous;..as if some august fate..were about to sweep them into complete annihilation.
1988 S. Quinn Mind of her Own xvii. 353 The ominous prospects of war could not dampen the enthusiasm of Karen Horney and her group for their new undertaking.
b. Of appearance, sound, atmosphere, etc.: menacing; awful; unsettling.Quots. a1593, 1608 could be interpreted as sense 1a.
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the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > threat or threatening > [adjective] > specifically of aspect, etc.
louringa1450
ominousa1593
loury1686
to look black1709
squally1814
thundery1824
thunderous1844
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > inauspicious > of aspect threatening misfortune
ominousa1593
sinister1797
stark1847
grim1873
a1593 C. Marlowe tr. Lucan First Bk. (1600) sig. Biij Julia Snatcht hence by cruel fates with ominous howles, Bare downe to hell her son.
1608 R. Johnson Hist. Seuen Champions Christendome (new ed.) i. iii. 21 His tongue as ominous as the skriking night-owle, but thine more sweeter then the mornings Larke.
a1717 W. Diaper tr. Oppian Halieuticks (1722) i. 26 Fierce Rams and Panthers break the tatter'd Net..And ominous Hyæna's seize their Prey.
1793 H. Boyd Poems 628 A dim eclipse began..And ominous ev'ning, o'er the prospect clos'd, In slow solemnity.
1877 A. B. Edwards Thousand Miles up Nile xxi. 647 Columns of hieroglyphic text, interspersed with ominous shapes, half-deity, half-demon.
1908 T. Seltzer tr. M. Gorky Spy (1918) xv. 205 The ominous face of the sick man frightened him, and the..snuffling, cantankerous voice disgusted him.
1955 R. Church Over Bridge (1956) xiii. 166 Night on the waters is always slightly ominous.
2001 N.Y. Times Mag. 24 June 32/1 There was an ominous, slow-motion replay of McVeigh's ‘perp walk’ intercut with victims in agony.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > harmfulness > [adjective] > and sinister
ominous1594
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > calamitous or disastrous
unholda1350
blacka1387
unhappyc1386
mischievousc1390
mischieffula1400
tragicalc1525
tragic1533
calamitous1545
mistempered1570
disadventurous1590
ominous1594
dismal1599
disastrous1601
ill-starredc1704
disventurousa1739
catastrophal1842
1594 T. Kyd tr. R. Garnier Cornelia ii. l. 61 O haples wife, thus ominous to all, Worse then Megera, worse then any plague.
1634 T. Heywood Maidenhead Lost iii, in Wks. (1874) IV. 140 O my ominous fate.
1671 R. Bohun Disc. Wind 140 The E. Winds..being ominous to our Gardens and Fields, by blasting the corn and fruits.
2. † b. Founded upon omens. Obsolete. rare.
a. Of the nature of an omen; that reveals the future. Also with †to, of. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1587 R. Greene Morando ii. sig. L Flinging out of her closet, she went into the Garden, where to seale vp her desires with an Omynæous obiect, hee was ye first shee saw in the company.]
1592 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) viii. xliii. 187 H. the letter still Might be obserued ominous, to Englands good or ill.
1646 J. Gregory Notes & Observ. vii. 29 'Twas a Rule..to undertake nothing..in-auspicatò, without some ominous performance.
1692 C. Gildon Post-boy rob'd of his Mail I. xxviii. 108 I hope my Dream may presage her Wealth, and Content, my Dreams are always ominous.
1735 J. Swift Gulliver iii. x. 274 When one of them is born, it is reckoned ominous, and their Birth is recorded very particularly.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. ii. 13 Nor can I here pass over an ominous circumstance that happened the last time we played together.
1822 Ld. Byron Heaven & Earth i. i, in Liberal 1 166 I feel a thousand fears Which are not ominous of right.
1843 R. S. Surtees Handley Cross I. xi. 218 The morning dawned auspiciously... Added to this, Mr. Jorrocks had cut the left side of his chin in shaving, which he always considered ominous of sport.
1911 ‘M. Field’ Dian iv, in Trag. Pardon 167 O crystal Moon, that showest all ages in thy turning magic stone, Let me not on thy ominous glass behold him Waking to disillusion.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > an omen, sign, portent > [adjective] > characterized by omens
ominous1672
omened1685
1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 137 I do not reckon much upon those ominous criticismes.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > promise, ground of hope > [adjective] > of circumstances: propitious
trine1477
towardly1520
bright1592
ominous1593
dexter1646
rosy1685
dextral1774
fairc1820
toward1850
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > an omen, sign, portent > [adjective]
prognosticate?a1425
prognostical?a1450
prognostaticc1475
portentousc1487
presagiousc1487
prodigiousc1487
prodigial1548
portending1560
augural1568
presaging1592
ominous1593
boding1594
portentive1594
prognostic1603
presageful1606
prognosticous1607
ostentful1608
prognosticant1619
predictious1631
portentful1633
ominal1651
ominating1663
bodeful1813
portentious1863
1593 G. Peele Famous Chron. King Edward the First sig. B2v Let vs like friends pastime vs on the sands, Our frolike mindes are ominous for good.
1596 C. Fitzgeffry Sir Francis Drake l. 1350 Who can denie that names are ominous? For Cliffords names hath still been valorous.
1598 M. Bouman in A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. Ded. sig. *ijv Whom incessantlye I pray, to give ominouse, & fortunate event to your divine attemptes.
1662 R. Mathews Unlearned Alchymist (new ed.) 175 This Medicine is..most ominous in all kind of Fluxes.
Compounds
ominous-looking adj. of sinister or menacing appearance.
ΚΠ
1680 Revenge; or, Match in Newgate v. 68 Dam thee, thou ill, thou ominous looking Dog, ever the Messenger of Hellish Tidings.
1843 C. J. Lever Jack Hinton 14 An ominous-looking star in the looking-glass bore witness to the bullet of a pistol.
1990 B. Sandison Tales of Loch 12 Outside the cottage door was a huge, ominous-looking shell which we were told had been fired from a battleship during World War I.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1589