Adjacent Words

Portentous definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PORTENT'OUS, a. [L. portentosus.] Ominous; foreshowing ill. Ignorance and superstition hold meteors to be portentous.
1. Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; in an ill sense.
No beast of more portentous size,
In the Hercynian forest lies.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of momentous or ominous significance; "such a portentous...monster raised all my curiosity"- Herman Melville; "a prodigious vision" [syn: portentous, prodigious]
2: ominously prophetic [syn: fateful, foreboding, portentous]
3: puffed up with vanity; "a grandiloquent and boastful manner"; "overblown oratory"; "a pompous speech"; "pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and pontifical hooey"- Newsweek [syn: grandiloquent, overblown, pompous, pontifical, portentous]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 15th century 1. of, relating to, or constituting a portent <suspense, portentous foreshadowing, hints of sinister and violent mysteries — Francine Prose> 2. eliciting amazement or wonder ; prodigious 3. a. being a grave or serious matter <portentous decisions> b. self-consciously solemn or important ; pompous <portentous declamation unsalted by the least trace of humor — W. H. Pritchard> c. ponderously excessive <that discipline's overwrought, portentous phrases — R. M. Coles> Synonyms: see ominous • portentously adverb • portentousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 like or serving as a portent. 2 pompously solemn. Derivatives: portentously adv.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Portentous Por*tent"ous, a. [L. portentosus.] 1. Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreshadowing, esp. foreshadowing ill; ominous. For, I believe, they are portentous things. --Shak. Victories of strange and almost portentous splendor. --Macaulay. 2. Hence: Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; dreadful; as, a beast of portentous size. --Roscommon. -- Por*tent"ous*ly, adv. -- Por*tent"ous*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If someone's way of speaking, writing, or behaving is portentous, they speak, write, or behave more seriously than necessary because they want to impress other people. (FORMAL) There was nothing portentous or solemn about him. He was bubbling with humour. ...portentous prose. = pompous ADJ [disapproval] • portentously 'The difference is,' he said portentously, 'you are Anglo-Saxons, we are Latins.' ADV: usu ADV with v 2. Something that is portentous is important in indicating or affecting future events. (FORMAL) In social politics, too, the city's contribution to 20th century thought and culture was no less portentous... ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Ominous (of ill), premonitory, ill-boding, inauspicious, unpropitious. 2. Monstrous, prodigious, wonderful, amazing, tremendous, stupendous, marvellous.

Moby Thesaurus

alarming, amazing, apocalyptic, astonishing, astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, bad, baleful, baneful, black, bodeful, boding, dark, dire, doomful, dreary, earnest, evil, evil-starred, exceptional, extraordinary, fabulous, fantastic, fatal, fateful, foreboding, forerunning, forewarning, formidable, gloomy, grave, heavy, ill, ill-boding, ill-fated, ill-omened, ill-starred, imposing, inauspicious, indescribable, ineffable, legendary, lowering, marvelous, menacing, mind-boggling, miraculous, momentous, mythical, noteworthy, of evil portent, ominous, phenomenal, portending, precautional, precautionary, precursive, precursory, premonitory, prodigious, prodromal, prodromic, remarkable, serious, sinister, sober, solemn, somber, star-crossed, stupefying, stupendous, threatening, unexampled, unfavorable, unfortunate, unlucky, unparalleled, unprecedented, unpromising, unpropitious, unspeakable, untoward, weighty, wonderful, wondrous