foreboding

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English forbodyng, vorboding, equivalent to fore- +‎ bode +‎ -ing. Compare German Vorbote (harbinger, omen).

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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foreboding (plural forebodings)

  1. A sense of evil to come.
    Synonym: augury
    • 1876 November, Henry James, Jr., chapter XIII, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, [], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, page 229:
      To me there is something sad in his life, and sometimes I have a sort of foreboding about him. I don't know why, but I fancy he will have some great trouble—perhaps an unhappy end.
    • 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 41:
      A sense of foreboding, the like of which he had never known before, hung heavily on him.
    • 1976 December 25, John Atteridg, “Going Home for the Holidays”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 26, page 18:
      I feel a slight foreboding about going home this year.
  2. An evil omen.

Translations

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Adjective

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foreboding (comparative more foreboding, superlative most foreboding)

  1. Of ominous significance; serving as an ill omen; foretelling of harm or difficulty.
    • 2018, “Blood on the Street”, performed by Soulfly:
      Blood on the street / Foreboding god complex / She never knew she was next

Verb

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foreboding

  1. present participle and gerund of forebode