Definition

1. Noun:

   • A strong inner feeling or notion of a future misfortune or evil: A sense of impending doom or disaster, often without a clear, specific reason.
   • An unfavorable omen; a sign that something bad is going to happen: An event or sign interpreted as predicting trouble.

2. Adjective:

   • Ominously prophetic; indicating or suggesting that something bad will happen: Describing something that causes or conveys a sense of impending misfortune.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • She was filled with a deep foreboding about the journey.
  • The sudden silence was a foreboding of the storm to come.
• Adjective:
  • The dark clouds had a foreboding appearance. Note: The adjectival use is less common than the noun form.

Advanced Usage

• "A sense/feeling of foreboding": This is a very common collocation to describe the emotional state.
  • A sense of foreboding hung over the empty house.
• "Foreboding that...": Used to introduce a clause specifying the feared event.
  • He had a foreboding that the news would be bad.

Variants and Related Words

• Forebode (verb): To portend or foreshadow; to have a premonition of (something bad).
  • The strange noises foreboded a mechanical failure.
• Foreboder (noun): One who forebodes (rare).

Synonyms

• Premonition: A strong feeling that something is about to happen, especially something unpleasant.
• Presentiment: An intuitive feeling about the future, often of something bad.
• Apprehension: Anxiety or fear that something bad will happen.
• Omen: An event regarded as a portent of good or evil.

Antonyms

• Hope: A feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.
• Optimism: Hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something.

Related Phrases and Idioms

• "A cloud of foreboding": A pervasive atmosphere of impending trouble.
  • A cloud of foreboding settled over the negotiations.
• "To be filled with foreboding": To be overwhelmed by a sense of impending doom.
  • As the deadline approached, she was filled with foreboding.

Adjective

1. ominously prophetic

Noun

1. an unfavorable omen
2. a feeling of evil to come
   • a steadily escalating sense of foreboding
   • the lawyer had a presentiment that the judge would dismiss the case