baleful

English

Alternative forms

• balefull (archaic)

Etymology

From Old English bealofull.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbeɪl.fəl/

Adjective

baleful (comparative more baleful, superlative most baleful)

1. Portending evil; ominous.
   • 1674 -- John Milton: Paradise Lost (Book I)

     round he throws his baleful eyes, that witnessed huge affliction and dismay.

   • 1873, James Thomson (B.V.), The City of Dreadful Night

     The street-lamps burn amid the baleful glooms,

     Amidst the soundless solitudes immense

     Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.

2. Miserable, wretched, distressed, suffering.

Translations

ominous

• Bulgarian: зловещ (bg) (zlovešt)
• Finnish: turmiollinen, uhkaava, pahanenteinen
• French: sinistre (fr)
• Galician: malvado, ruín

• Polish: złowieszczy
• Russian: пагубный (ru) (págubnyj) m
• Spanish: funesto (es)