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portentously. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
portentously, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
From portentous + -ly.
Pronunciation
Adverb
portentously (comparative more portentously, superlative most portentously)
- In an ominous manner.
- Synonym: ominously
1834, L E L, chapter XXXVIII, in Francesca Carrara. In Three Volumes.">…], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 318:The cold light of the moon touched every face with unnatural paleness; and the silence was unbroken and portentously profound.
1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 121: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.
2010 September 27, Malcolm Gladwell, “Small Change”, in The New Yorker:Shirky ends the story of the lost Sidekick by asking, portentously, “What happens next?”—no doubt imagining future waves of digital protesters.
- In a pompous manner.
Translations