ominously

English

Etymology

From ominous +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒmɪnəsli/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑmənəsli/

Adverb

ominously (comparative more ominously, superlative most ominously)

1. In an ominous manner; with sinister foreboding.
   • 1868 January 4 – June 6, [William] Wilkie Collins, “Second Period. The Discovery of the Truth. (1848–1849.) […] [Fourth Narrative. Extracted from the Journal of Ezra Jennings.]”, in The Moonstone. A Romance. […], volume III, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1868, →OCLC, page 195:

     From first to last he was ominously polite, and ominously silent.

   • 1983, Patricia Hagan, Golden Roses:

     His nostrils flared ominously and his fists opened and closed at his sides.

   • 1999, Harish Kapadia, “Accident and Rescue in the Nanda Devi Sanctuary”, in Across Peaks & Passes in Kumaun Himalaya, New Delhi: Indus Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 70:

     However, the next day dawned ominously with an overcast sky and we postponed our start till 8 o'clock.

   • 2021 April 23, Ronald Brownstein, “The racist ‘replacement theory’ has it all backward”, in CNN‎:

     Just as the Census Bureau forecasts growing racial diversity under any future level of immigration, it likewise projects ominously slow growth in America’s working-age population without more immigration.

Translations

in an ominous manner

Catalan: ominosament (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 不详地, 不吉利地 Finnish: pahaenteisesti, enteellisesti (fi) Macedonian: злокобно (zlokobno), зловесно (zlovesno) Romanian: amenințător (ro), sinistru (ro) Russian: злове́ще (ru) (zlovéšče)