portentous
portentous
Definition
por·ten·tous (pôr ten′təs)
adjective
- that portends evil; ominous
- arousing awe or amazement; marvelous
- ponderous or pompous; self-important
Etymology: L portentosus < portentum: see portent
portentous
Synonyms
portentous
modif.
Ominous
ominous, foreboding, prophetic, momentous; see important 1, ominous, sinister.Unusual
rare, extraordinary, significant; see unusual 2. See syn. study at ominous.
portentous
Usage Examples
Used with adjective complement
- become: I tell you this is somehow easy tv guide becoming strangely portentous.
- sound: Looking back, the designation appears and sounds absurdly portentous.
Modifying Another Word
- strangely: I tell you this is somehow easy tv guide becoming strangely portentous.
- rather: Then I assumed a rather portentous manner to prepare him.
- slightly: A Serious Collection These slightly portentous thoughts were provoked by a recent visit to Mr Don Baker's museum in Mill Lane.
Modifies a noun
- nature: As a public sign, Mather makes an important distinction concerning the portentous nature of the comet of 1680.
- tone: His precise and portentous tones seemed removed from the crowd trying to move the crowd.
- title: But what has become obvious in the second part of his series is that the portentous title is a misnomer.
- event: As in Heaven's Alarm, Mather uses Biblical and historical references to associate the appearance of a comet with portentous events.
- music: Shore uses that skill here with some deep portentous music to convey the enormous mystical powers wielded by characters and objects in the story.
- word: I leave you with the portentous words of Martin Luther King spoken on the night before he died.
Browse dictionary entries near portentous
- portent
- portend
- porte-monnaie
- porte-cochere
- porte-cochère
- Porte
- portcullis
- portative
- portance
- portamento
