Dictionary

portentously en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /pɔː(ɹ)ˈtɛn.təs.li/

Etymology

Etymology tree English portentous Middle English -ly English -ly English portentously From portentous + -ly.

Meanings

1. In an ominous manner.
   • The cold light of the moon touched every face with unnatural paleness; and the silence was unbroken and portentously profound. 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXVIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 318:
   • Shirky ends the story of the lost Sidekick by asking, portentously, “What happens next?”—no doubt imagining future waves of digital protesters. 2010 September 27, Malcolm Gladwell, “Small Change”, in The New Yorker:
   • At that moment a long, scraggy individual in a checked suit poked his head into the bar, looked around portentously, whistled mysteriously to my informant, and jerked his thumb and head in the direction of the door. 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 121:
2. In a pompous manner.

Forms

Synonyms

ominously

Translations (2)

pl złowieszczo (in an ominous manner) · pl pompatycznie (in a pompous manner)