Meaning & use
foreboding
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
An uneasy inner feeling that something bad is going to happen, even if you cannot say why.
Grammar: Often a singular with a/an or a feeling of: a sense of foreboding.
Patterns
- a feeling of foreboding
- a sense of foreboding about something
She felt a growing sense of foreboding as the phone kept ringing.
He ignored his foreboding and boarded the flight anyway.
A deep foreboding settled over the village before the storm.
adjectivecomparable
Giving the impression that something bad or threatening is coming.
Grammar: Usually before a noun: a foreboding sky.
The foreboding clouds gathered over the hills.
A foreboding silence followed the announcement.
The old house had a dark, foreboding look.
Word forms
| plural | forebodings |
|---|
Common combinations
- a sense of foreboding
- A sense of foreboding crept over the audience as the music slowed.
- a feeling of foreboding
- I woke with a feeling of foreboding I couldn't shake.
- fill someone with foreboding
- The empty street filled him with foreboding.
- foreboding sky
- A foreboding sky darkened the harbor.
- foreboding atmosphere
- The foreboding atmosphere in the corridor made her hurry.
Synonyms and how they differ
- premonition
- A premonition is a specific warning feeling about a future event, while foreboding is a more general dread.
- dread
- Dread focuses on fear of something you know is coming, whereas foreboding is vaguer and has no clear cause.
- ominous
- Ominous is the usual adjective for things that signal danger, and it is slightly more common than the adjective foreboding.
- unease
- Unease is milder and can be about anything, while foreboding specifically predicts something bad.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: foreboding or forewarning?
foreboding vs forewarning
A forewarning is an actual notice or signal given in advance, while a foreboding is a private feeling of dread.
Practice
As the sky turned black, Maria felt a sense of ___ about the long drive home.
Choose one answer.
Foreboding means a worrying feeling that something bad will happen, which fits the darkening sky. Relief and pride are positive and do not match, and curiosity does not suggest threat.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “foreboding”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.