foreboding
Sense of doom
Foreboding is a feeling that something bad is about to happen—a sense of impending trouble or doom: She had a foreboding about the trip.
The word works as both noun and adjective: a foreboding silence, foreboding clouds.
Unlike a prediction, foreboding is vague and intuitive rather than specific.
Suggesting something bad approaches
- darkAbsence of light
- gloomyDark and dispiriting
- sinisterThreateningly suggestive of harm
- eerieDisturbingly strange
grim · shadowy · chilling · spooky · haunting · menacing · unsettling · oppressive
Intense anticipatory fear
- apprehensionNervous anticipation of trouble
- uneaseMild persistent worry
- trepidationFearful uncertainty
- anxietyPersistent apprehensive distress
misgiving · disquiet · presentiment · premonition · sense · hunch · gut feeling · inkling
Alert about danger
- portentSign of future calamity
- harbingerOne who foreshadows
- signMark conveying information
- auguryOmen interpretation practice
presage · foreshadowing · prophecy · prognostication · bad omen · ill omen · forewarning · herald
Source of potential harm
looming · imminent · approaching · gathering storm · shadow · specter · catastrophe · disaster
ominous
Suggesting something bad approaches
eerie · grim · shadowy · chilling · spooky · haunting · menacing · unsettling · oppressive · brooding
dread
Intense anticipatory fear
- apprehensionNervous anticipation of trouble
- uneaseMild persistent worry
- trepidationFearful uncertainty
anxiety · misgiving · disquiet · presentiment · premonition · sense · hunch · gut feeling · inkling · suspicion
warning
Alert about danger
augury · presage · foreshadowing · prophecy · prognostication · bad omen · ill omen · forewarning · herald · indicator
menace
Source of potential harm
impending · looming · imminent · approaching · gathering storm · shadow · specter · catastrophe · disaster · calamity
- emotionsjoy, anger, fear, sadness, love
- Anxietyanxiety, nervousness, panic, worry, generalized anxiety
- fearfear, dread, afraid, fright, frightened
- horrorhorror, terror, fear, dread, haunted
- creepy feelingseeriness, spookiness, creepiness, dread, chills
- dramatic tonesintense, tense, suspenseful, ominous, menacing
forebodingoptimism
Tendency to expect good
hope · hopefulness · anticipation · excitement · confidence
forebodingreassuring
Restoring calm or confidence
comforting · benign · unthreatening · inviting · welcoming
forebodingauspicious
Indicating future success
propitious · promising · favorable · encouraging · heartening
- foreboding weatherSigns of approaching storms