portentous
/pɔrˈtɛn(t)əs/ adjective
- adjective Of momentous or ominous significance.
- adjective Ominously prophetic.
- adjective Puffed up with vanity.
Synonyms
ominous momentous big central consequential critical crucial epochful essential extraordinary fateful fatefraught fatesome heavy pivotal high on the totem pole historic innegligible key life-or-death prodigious foreboding grandiloquent overblown pompous pontifical
Antonyms
Etymology
* Borrowed from Latin portentōsus, from portentus (“predicted”) + -ōsus. Compare earlier portentuous (via Middle English from Latin portentuōsus). By surface analysis, portent + -ous.
* Borrowed from French portentueux
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreschadowing, esp. foreschadowing ill; ominous.
- adjective Hence: Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; dreadful; as, a beast of portentous size. Roscommon.
Etymology [L. portentosus.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “portentous”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details