portentously
/pɔː(ɹ)ˈtɛn.təs.li/
portentously adverb: in an ominous manner.
Adverb
portentously (comparative more portentously, superlative most portentously)
- In an ominous manner.
- The cold light of the moon touched every face with unnatural paleness; and the silence was unbroken and portentously profound.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXVIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 318
- At that moment a long, scraggy individual in a checked suit poked his head into the bar, looked around portentously, whistled mysteriously to my informant, and jerked his thumb and head in the direction of the door.1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 121
- Synonyms:
- ominously
- In a pompous manner.
Synonyms of portentously
Forms of portentously
| comparative | more portentously |
|---|---|
| superlative | most portentously |
Origin of portentously
From portentous + -ly.
Questions about portentously
- What does portentously mean?
- Portentously means in an ominous manner.
- What part of speech is portentously?
- Portentously is an adverb.
- How do you pronounce portentously?
- Portentously is pronounced /pɔː(ɹ)ˈtɛn.təs.li/.
Words near portentously in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: portentously (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “portentously.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/portentously. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.