Adjacent Words

Baleful definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BA'LEFUL, a.[See Bale.] Woeful; sad; sorrowful; full of grief; producing misery; as, a baleful smart; baleful eyes.
2. Mischievous; destructive; pernicious; calamitous; deadly; as, baleful enemies; baleful war.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: deadly or sinister; "the Florida eagles have a fierce baleful look" [syn: baleful, baneful]
2: 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]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: before 12th century 1. deadly or pernicious in influence <baleful effects> 2. foreboding or threatening evil <a baleful look> Synonyms: see sinister • balefully adverb • balefulness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 (esp. of a manner, look, etc.) gloomy, menacing. 2 harmful, malignant, destructive. Derivatives: balefully adv. balefulness n. Etymology: BALE(2) + -FUL

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Baleful Bale"ful, a. [AS. bealoful. See Bale misery.] 1. Full of deadly or pernicious influence; destructive. ``Baleful enemies.'' --Shak. Four infernal rivers that disgorge Into the burning lake their baleful streams. --Milton. 2. Full of grief or sorrow; woeful; sad. [Archaic]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Baleful means harmful, or expressing harmful intentions. (LITERARY) ...a baleful look. ADJ: usu ADJ n • balefully He watched her balefully. ADV: ADV with v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Hurtful, injurious, noxious, mischievous, pernicious, calamitous, baneful, ruinous, deadly, fraught with evil.

Moby Thesaurus

apocalyptic, bad, baneful, bitchy, black, bodeful, boding, corroding, corrosive, corrupting, corruptive, counterproductive, cussed, damaging, dark, deadly, deleterious, detrimental, dire, direful, disadvantageous, disserviceable, distressing, doomful, dreary, evil, evil-starred, fateful, foreboding, gloomy, harmful, hateful, hurtful, ill, ill-boding, ill-fated, ill-omened, ill-starred, inauspicious, iniquitous, injurious, invidious, lethal, lowering, malefic, maleficent, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, menacing, mischievous, nasty, noisome, noxious, of evil portent, ominous, ornery, pernicious, poisonous, portending, portentous, prejudicial, scatheful, sinister, somber, threatening, toxic, unfavorable, unfortunate, unlucky, unpromising, unpropitious, untoward, venenate, veneniferous, venenous, venomous, vicious, virulent, wicked