Synonyms for foreboding
- adjective
- noun
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
ominous, portentous, sinister, grim, baleful, threatening, dire, fateful, boding, ill-starred, ill-fated, ill-boding, ill-omened, bodeful, presageful, disastrous, unlucky, sullen dated, prodigious dated, nefastous rare, inauspicate dated
Noun
1. Premonition — A sense of evil to come
premonition, presentiment, augury, anticipation, foretelling, omen, presage, prescience, sign, prediction, foreknowledge, prognostication, prognostic, portent, prophecy, foretoken, preboding dated
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Of ominous significance; serving as an ill omen; foretelling of harm or difficulty.
- n. 1
A sense of evil to come.
Related words
- Other spellings
- forboding
Forms
- Plural
- forebodings → premonitions, presentiments, auguries, anticipations…
Choose the right word
Expectation may be either of good or evil; presentiment almost always, apprehension and foreboding always, of evil; anticipation and antepast, commonly of good.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- grim That evening tea was partaken of in a grim silence.
- sinister Gustavo's tone and mannerisms were really sinister.
- ominous The sky looks ominous. I wonder if it will rain.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| foreboding | rising | |
| grim | rising | |
| sinister | rising | |
| ominous | rising | |
| portentous | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- sign1, grim1, dire1, omen2
- 6 letters
- sullen2, augury, boding
- 7 letters
- anxiety4, unlucky3, ominous3, fateful2, portent2, presage2, baleful2, bodeful
- 8 letters
- prophecy3, sinister3
- 9 letters
- nefastous, foretoken, preboding
- 10 letters
- prediction3, disastrous3, prodigious3, prognostic, portentous3, prescience3, presageful
- 11 letters
- threatening3, premonition4, foretelling3, inauspicate
- 12 letters
- anticipation5, presentiment
- 13 letters
- foreknowledge
- 15 letters
- prognostication5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (omen2 = 2 syllables).