foreboding

Definition

A sense of evil to come.

Etymology

From Middle English forbodyng, vorboding, equivalent to fore- + bode + -ing. Compare German Vorbote (“harbinger, omen”).

Example Sentences

• "To me there is something sad in his life, and sometimes I have a sort of foreboding about him. I don't know why, but I fancy he will have some great trouble—perhaps an unhappy end."
• "A sense of foreboding, the like of which he had never known before, hung heavily on him."
• "I feel a slight foreboding about going home this year."