portentous

5 antonyms for portentous — opposites grouped by meaning.

Adj — Carrying great or worrying importance.

Synonyms by Meaning

1. adj

Carrying great or worrying importance.

“The chaplain's first mention of the name Yossarian! had tolled deep in his memory like a portentous gong.”

pompous prodigious overblown fateful pontifical grandiloquent foreboding

Opposites

insignificant unremarkable trivial

2. adj

Seeming to warn of something bad to come.

Opposites

auspicious

3. adj

Full of pride and self-importance.

Opposites

humble

Antonyms

insignificant unremarkable trivial auspicious humble

Etymology

Has more than one source. One is a borrowing from Latin portentōsus, from portentus (“predicted”) plus -ōsus, compare the earlier form portentuous (which came via Middle English from Latin portentuōsus); read at face value it is portent plus -ous. The other is a borrowing from French portentueux.

Full origin of portentous →

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humble trivial insignificant pontifical auspicious prodigious foreboding pompous overblown fateful unremarkable

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