different between ominous vs dolorous

English

Etymology

From Latin ominosus (“full of foreboding”), from omen (“forbidden fruit, omen”), from os (“the mouth”) + -men.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??m?n?s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??m?n?s/
• Hyphenation: o?mi?nous

Adjective

ominous (comparative more ominous, superlative most ominous)

1. Of or pertaining to an omen or to omens; being or exhibiting an omen; significant.
2. Specifically, giving indication of a coming ill; being an evil omen

   Synonyms: threatening, portentous, inauspicious

   • California poll support for Jerry Brown's tax increases has ominous implications for U.S. taxpayers too Los Angeles Times Headline April 25, 2011

Usage notes

• Formerly used both in a favorable and unfavorable sense; now chiefly in the latter; foreboding or foreshadowing evil; inauspicious; as, an ominous dread.
• Nouns to which "ominous" is often applied: sign, silence, warning, cloud, note, sound, shadow, threat, music, tone, implication, message, presence, development, voice, portent, turn, sky, figure, dream, event, trend, change, day, beginning, growl, cry, signal, pattern.

Synonyms

• portentous
• sinister
• threatening

Derived terms

• ominously
• ominousness

Related terms

• omen
• abomination

Translations

Further reading

• ominous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• ominous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• suimono

English

Alternative forms

• dolourous (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English dolorous, from Old French dolerous (modern French douloureux), from Late Latin dol?r?sus (“painful”), from Latin dolor. Doublet of dolorose.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?l???s/, /?do?l???s/

Adjective

dolorous (comparative more dolorous, superlative most dolorous)

1. Solemnly or ponderously sad.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book 5, Canto 4:

     Through dolorous despaire, which she conceyved,

     Into the Sea her selfe did headlong throw,

     Thinking to have her griefe by death bereaved.

   • 1645, John Milton, "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity", stanza 14:

     . . . Hell itself will pass away,

     And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day.

   • 2001 June 24, Stefan Kanfer, "Author, Teacher, Witness," Time:

     As World War II came to a close, the gaunt and dolorous child was liberated at yet another death camp, Buchenwald.

Translations