i Register
In some senses, baleful is marked as obsolete. Watch for register when choosing this word.
baleful
/ˈbeɪl.fəl/
adj 3
Collocations
4ADJ.
pumped, red, under
VERB + BALEFUL
born, burn
BALEFUL + NOUN
climate, glooms
PREP.
amid, amidst
Definitions
adj
1
Portending evil; ominous.
The street-lamps burn amid the baleful glooms, Amidst the soundless solitudes immense Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.
According to them all sorcerers, necromancers and evil-doers were born under the baleful influence of the seventh calendic sign[.]
2
Miserable, wretched, distressed, suffering.
Thou balefull Messenger, out of my sight:
round he throws his baleful eyes, that witnessed huge affliction and dismay […]
3
Deadly, mortal.
With balefull weedes, and precious Iuiced flowers, / The earth that's Natures mother, is her Tombe,
If some were akin to the Formori of the baleful fogs in Irish mythic history and the Mallt-y-nos, those she-demons of marshy lands immortalised by the Welsh bards, creatures huge and uncouth "with grey and glaring eyes," there were others who exceeded in beauty anything human.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
adjective — threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
- forbidding
- menacing
- minacious
- minatory
- ominous
- sinister
- threatening
adjective — deadly or sinister
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
401
The street-lamps burn amid the baleful glooms, Amidst the soundless solitudes immense Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.
Wiktionary02
According to them all sorcerers, necromancers and evil-doers were born under the baleful influence of the seventh calendic sign[.]
Wiktionary03
[…] he went off alone with his family, and, watched by the day's red baleful eye, pumped the pump-car homeward, […]
Wiktionary04
For them the baleful effects of climate change aren’t vague or theoretical but already happening before their eyes.
Tatoeba · #12046553Usage Notes
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