Make Your Point

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > BALEFUL

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

connect today's word to others:

Baleful, a synonym of dire, deadly, threatening, and menacing, has been around since before the 1200s, when English looked like this:

"...þæt se bealofulla hyneð heardlice..."

Let's recall some more synonyms of baleful. Here they are, in order from oldest to newest:

Since about 1425, we've referred to threatening, harmful, fatal things as per__us.

Since about 1532, we've called them miry.

Since about 1627, no_us.

And since about 1678, mafnt.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

make your point with...

"BALEFUL"

The word "bale" means "evil, pain, harm, injury, lethalness, fatality, or death."

So, "baleful" means "harmful or deadly."

Pronunciation:
BALE full
(rhymes with "pailful")

Part of speech:
Adjective.
(Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late."
They can be used in two ways:
1. Right before a noun, as in "a baleful look."
2. After a linking verb, as in "The effects were baleful.")

Other forms:
bale, balefully, balefulness

How to use it:

This word's tone is slightly poetic and slightly literary, but it's still common in casual nonfiction.

Talk about people's baleful looks, stares, and glances. Or call someone's eyes, face, or expression baleful.

And you can talk about baleful words, such as baleful warnings: those that suggest or foreshadow harm or deadliness.

You can also talk about something's baleful (harmful or deadly) presence, or its baleful impact, effects, influence, or consequences.

Even feelings and attitudes can be baleful: baleful hatred, envy, prejudice, etc.

To get figurative, talk about baleful sounds, music, images, colors, shadows, rooms, atmospheres, weather, etc.

examples:

With its bedspread a baleful shade of green and its pillows an eye-watering fluorescent pink, the guest room seems to say, "Don't get too comfortable."

"Bernie Sanders campaigned loudly and convincingly against the baleful consequences of the Obama years — stagnant wages, income inequality and a squeezing of the middle class."
— Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 23 June 2016

study it now:

Look away from the screen to define "baleful" without saying "threatening" or "deadly."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) casts a baleful glare at (something, or someone else), (who or which) is (doing something)."

Example 1: "She casts a baleful glare at her date, who's reaching for yet another forkful of her brownie."

Example 2: "I cast a baleful glare at my printer, which is stubbornly ignoring the wireless network."

before you review, play:

Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.

Our game is "TV Tropes!"

This month, we're playing with tropes from TVTropes.org. TV tropes are storytelling devices, which can come from any source of fiction—TV, movies, books, you name it. They're the archetypes, the story patterns, the plot devices, the cheap tricks, the situational clichés that we see over and over throughout fiction.

Examples of TV tropes include "Skyward Scream," "Banister Slide," "Caught on the Jumbotron," "Burp of Finality," "City People Eat Sushi," "Dance Party Ending," "Clean Pretty Childbirth," "Come Back to Bed, Honey," "Even the Subtitler is Stumped," and tens of thousands more.

Naming a trope can be a straightforward business, as in the "Skyward Scream." But often it demands precision, inviting the use of humorously sophisticated terms. Enter our Make Your Point words.

In each issue this month, consider the name of a TV trope, and try to define it or even give an example from a TV show or other work of fiction.

From the previous issue:

In fiction, what is the trope known as Captain Ersatz?

Answer:

It's when a character appears as a generic version, or a parodied version, of a copyrighted character, with a wink at the audience--we know who he's really supposed to be. For example, in Galaxy Quest, we know that Commander Taggart is really a Captain Kirk.

Try this today:

In fiction, what is the trope known as Incessant Music Madness?

review today's word:

1. One opposite of BALEFUL is

A. FLEXIBLE.
B. FAVORABLE.
C. FORGETTABLE.

2. We're working together to _ the baleful effects of _.

A. mitigate .. poverty on children
B. predict .. talk therapy on grieving teens
C. summarize .. free pre-kindergarten programs

Answers are below.

a final word:

Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From Liesl's blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.

To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

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.

Answers to review questions:
1. B
2. A

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.