Baleful

/ˈbeɪl.fəl/ · adjective

Meaning

Portending evil; ominous..

Definitions by Sense

1. Portending evil; ominous.
2. (obsolete) Miserable, wretched, distressed, suffering.
3. (obsolete) Deadly, mortal.

Example Sentences

I learned the speech of birds; now every tree Screams out to me a baleful prophecy.

The street-lamps burn amid the baleful glooms, Amidst the soundless solitudes immense Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.

According to them all sorcerers, necromancers and evil-doers were born under the baleful influence of the seventh calendic sign[.]

[…] he went off alone with his family, and, watched by the day's red baleful eye, pumped the pump-car homeward, […]

Few people cast a more baleful shadow over postwar Britain than Peter Sutcliffe, the “Yorkshire Ripper”, who has died aged 74

In their excellent essay in The Atlantic endorsing disqualification, Luttig and Tribe remind us that the first president, in his 1796 Farewell Address, had foreseen many of the elements of this baleful disaster.

Thou balefull Messenger, out of my sight:

round he throws his baleful eyes, that witnessed huge affliction and dismay […]

Synonyms for baleful

Antonyms for baleful

Related Words

Word Forms

• more baleful
• most baleful
• balefull

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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