'Portentous' definitions:
Definition of 'portentous'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Of momentous or ominous significance; "such a portentous...monster raised all my curiosity"- Herman Melville; "a prodigious vision" [syn: portentous, prodigious]
adjective
Ominously prophetic [syn: fateful, foreboding(a), portentous]
adjective
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]
Definition of 'Portentous'
From: GCIDE
- Portentous \Por*tent"ous\, a. [L. portentosus.]
- 1. Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreshadowing, esp. foreshadowing ill; ominous. [1913 Webster]
- For, I believe, they are portentous things. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Victories of strange and almost portentous splendor. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Hence: Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; dreadful; as, a beast of portentous size. --Roscommon. [1913 Webster] -- {Por*tent"ous*ly}, adv. -- {Por*tent"ous*ness}, n. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'portentous'
From: 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