Standard Lemma guide

portentous

adj · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /pɔː(ɹ)ˈtɛntəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /pɔrˈtɛn(t)əs/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P AO0 R T EH1 N T AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of momentous or ominous significance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

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, meaningful, necessary, noted, noticeable, observable, outstanding, paramount, pertinent, relevant, remarkable, salient, significant, unignorable, valuable, vital, weighty

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Ominously prophetic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: foreshadowing, predictive, premonitory, prognosticatory, augurous, baleful, bodeful, boding, dire, disastrous, divine, fatal, foreboding, ill-boding, ill-fated, ill-omened, ill-starred, inauspicate, inauspicious, nefastous, omenic, ominous, brooding, portentous, presageful, presagious, prodigious, sinister, star-crossed, sullen

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Puffed up with vanity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: vain

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

puffed up with vanity- Newsweek

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a grandiloquent and boastful manner
  • overblown oratory
  • a pompous speech
  • pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and pontifical hooey

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: grandiloquent, overblown, pompous, pontifical

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

ominously prophetic

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fateful, foreboding(a)

Antonyms: none provided

6

adjective satellite

Meaning 6

of momentous or ominous significance- Herman Melville

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • such a portentous...monster raised all my curiosity
  • a prodigious vision

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: prodigious

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Of multiple origins: * 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

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: зловещ (zlovešt) — ominous; portending evil
  • Bulgarian: злокобен (zlokoben) — ominous; portending evil
  • Chinese Cantonese: 凶兆嘅 (hunh1 siu6 ge3) — ominous; portending evil
  • Dutch: onheilspellend — ominous; portending evil
  • Esperanto: malbonaŭgura — ominous; portending evil
  • Finnish: pahaenteinen — ominous; portending evil
  • Finnish: enteellinen — ominous; portending evil
  • German: unheildrohend — ominous; portending evil
  • German: bedeutungsschwer — ominous; portending evil
  • Hungarian: vészjósló — ominous; portending evil
  • Italian: portentoso — ominous; portending evil
  • Japanese: 前兆的な (zenchou-teki na) — ominous; portending evil
  • Polish: złowieszczy — ominous; portending evil
  • Russian: злове́щий (zlovéščij) — ominous; portending evil
  • Serbo-Croatian: зло̀гук — ominous; portending evil
  • Serbo-Croatian: зло̀слутан — ominous; portending evil
  • Serbo-Croatian: zlòguk — ominous; portending evil
  • Serbo-Croatian: zlòslutan — ominous; portending evil
  • Spanish: portentoso — ominous; portending evil
  • Bulgarian: важничещ (važničešt) — vain; marvelous; prodigious; wonderful
  • Bulgarian: надут (nadut) — vain; marvelous; prodigious; wonderful
  • Catalan: portentós — vain; marvelous; prodigious; wonderful
  • German: hochtrabend — vain; marvelous; prodigious; wonderful
  • German: wichtigtuerisch — vain; marvelous; prodigious; wonderful
  • German: eitel — vain; marvelous; prodigious; wonderful
  • Norwegian Bokmål: høyttravende — vain; marvelous; prodigious; wonderful
  • Norwegian Bokmål: svulstig — vain; marvelous; prodigious; wonderful
  • Norwegian Bokmål: oppstyltet — vain; marvelous; prodigious; wonderful
  • Spanish: portentoso — vain; marvelous; prodigious; wonderful