Foreboding
Foreboding adjective - Being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come.
Usage example: foreboding war clouds began to gather
Sinister is a synonym for foreboding. In some cases you can use "Sinister" instead an adjective "Foreboding".
Nearby Word: foreboded
Sinister
Sinister adjective - Being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come.
Usage example: the movie relies too much on sinister background music to create the suspense that the plot sorely lacks
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
- forbidding and foreboding
- forbidding and sinister
- baleful and foreboding
- baleful and sinister
- inauspicious and foreboding
- inauspicious and sinister
- black and foreboding
- black and sinister
- dark and foreboding
- dark and sinister
- unfavourable and foreboding
- unfavourable and sinister
- grim and foreboding
- grim and sinister
Both words in one sentence
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Foreshadowing: The words in the Other Father's song become much more sinister and foreboding once you find out they want to put buttons in her eyes.
Source: Western Animation / Coraline - While genuinely tragic, pining after the woman in the gas mask who visits the Carnival, he's rendered foreboding and sinister because the lyrics make clear his idea of love is deeply dysfunctional and self-interested, since he thinks it will fix his life/free him from the Carnival.
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Sinister Subway: The ride was purposely designed to create a sense of dread in guests before the earthquake starts, with the subway tunnels being empty and foreboding.
Source: Ride / Earthquake: The Big One
Cite this Source
Sinister and Foreboding. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 13, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/foreboding/sinister
Foreboding & Sinister. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/foreboding/sinister>.
Sinister or Foreboding. 2016. Accessed August 13, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/foreboding/sinister.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "foreboding" and "sinister" have occurred on timeline