Make Your Point > Archived Issues > OMINOUS
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Let's enjoy how Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett set an ominous scene in their novel Good Omens:
"Just because it's a mild night doesn't mean that dark forces aren't abroad. They're abroad all the time. They're everywhere.
They always are. That's the whole point.
Two of them lurked in the ruined graveyard. Two shadowy figures, one hunched and squat, the other lean and menacing, both of them Olympic-grade lurkers."
Oooh, so ominous.
It might be the case that, although you know the word ominous--you know what it means, you know how to use it--you've not yet peered inside it to glimpse the base word, the one hiding slyly within it.
Pluck off the "-ous," change the remaining vowel to an "e," and there it is: omen.
See if you can recall a very ominous-sounding synonym of omen. It starts with H, it's three syllables, and it's often found in the phrase "h__b__g__ of doom."
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"OMINOUS"
The word "omen" comes straight from Latin and means "something that tells what will happen in the future."
Omens are either good or bad. You don't hear too much about humdrum omens.
But, maybe because we pay more attention to things we see as bad omens, the word "ominous" means "revealing a bad omen," or more loosely, "creepy, spooky, or sinister in a way that seems to suggest that something bad will happen."
Pronunciation:
OM uh nuss
Part of speech:
Adjective: "the owl's ominous stare," "the owl's stare seemed ominous."
Other common forms:
omen(s), ominously
How to use it:
This word is common and powerful.
It can emphasize how something fills us with a vague, dreadful, anticipatory fear: "I drew back from the ominous shadows." And it's great for exaggeration: "We heard silence from the playroom, then an ominous 'Oops.'"
Often we talk about ominous sights and sounds, like an ominous darkening of the sky, or an ominous rumbling of thunder.
People's voices, and their words and facial expressions, can seem ominous. "He stopped us with his ominous glare."
It's often music that we find ominous: "Danny Elfman wrote the whimsical, ominous score for The Nightmare Before Christmas."
And often, it's silence that strikes us as most ominous.
Aside from sights and sounds, you can call just about anything else ominous: smells, threats, warnings, predictions, statistics, developments, coincidences, etc.
Finally, although you can talk about ominous signs, signals, and indicators, why not just call them omens?
examples:
"The woods always look different at night... Everything has an unfamiliar slant to it. As if the daytime trees and flowers and stones had gone to bed and sent slightly more ominous versions of themselves to take their places."
— Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, 2008
"Here's what's familiar [about the remake of the movie]. The Creeds are still the focus, having just moved from Boston with their children, Gage and Ellie, and cute cat in search of a quieter life in Maine. There's still the ominous, dead-raising burial ground in the woods that will upend those hopes. Semi trucks speeding by still foreshadow doom."
— Mekado Murphy, New York Times, 7 April 2019
has this page helped you understand "ominous"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "ominous" without saying "foreboding" or "portentous."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "The (show, movie, article, book, or novel) opens ominously, with (something spooky or threatening happening)."
Example: "The book opens ominously, with a child bolting awake in the night."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
This month, we're playing Name Those Synonyms!
We're enjoying the gracefully written, ultra-authoritative explanations in Funk & Wagnalls Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions. In each issue, check out the passage from the book, and see if you can figure out which synonyms are being distinguished.
From the previous issue: What five synonyms (<1>, <2>, <3>, <4>, and <5>) does the Handbook distinguish below?
Choose from the following word bank, which also includes words you won't use: calm, collected, composed, gentle, placid, sedate, serene, tranquil, unruffled.
"One is <1> who has subdued excited feeling; he is <2> when he has every thought, feeling, or perception awake and at command. <3> refers to a present state; <4>, to a prevailing tendency. We speak of a <3> mind, a <4> disposition. The <5> spirit dwells as if in the clear upper air, above all storm and shadow."
Answers:
<1> is "composed."
<2> is "collected."
<3> is "tranquil."
<4> is "placid."
<5> is "serene."
Try this last one today: What seven synonyms (<1>, <2>, <3>, <4>, <5>, <6>, and <7>) does the Handbook distinguish below?
Choose from the following word bank, which also includes words you won't use: blaze, flame, flicker, glare, gleam, glimmer, glistening, glitter, glow, luster, sheen, shimmer, sparkle, twinkle.
"<1>, <2>, and <3> denote wavering light. We speak of the <1> of distant lamps through the mist; of the <3> of waves in sunlight or moonlight. A <2> is a hard light; as, the <2> of burnished arms. A <4> is not wavering, but transient or intermittent: 'a sudden <4> of light came through the half-open door.' <5> is a shining as from a wet surface. <6> denotes commonly a reflection from a polished surface, as of silk or gems. A <7> is a sudden light, as of sparks thrown out; 'scintillation' is the more exact and scientific term for the actual emission of sparks, also the figurative term for what suggests such an emission; as, scintillations of wit or of genius."
Bonus challenge: Recall the fine differences among "knowledge," "information," "science," and "lore." You can view the answer in this issue.
review this word:
1. A close opposite of OMINOUS is
A. ANIMATED.
B. SPRIGHTLY.
C. AUSPICIOUS.
2. As fortune cookies go, his was rather ominous: "_____."
A. Flattery will go far tonight
B. Do it; soon it will be too late
C. You have rice in your teeth
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
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Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Let's enjoy how Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett set an ominous scene in their novel Good Omens:
"OMINOUS" The word "omen" comes straight from Latin and means "something that tells what will happen in the future."
"The woods always look different at night... Everything has an unfamiliar slant to it. As if the daytime trees and flowers and stones had gone to bed and sent slightly more ominous versions of themselves to take their places."
Explain the meaning of "ominous" without saying "foreboding" or "portentous."
Fill in the blanks: "The (show, movie, article, book, or novel) opens ominously, with (something spooky or threatening happening)."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A close opposite of OMINOUS is
|