foreboding

• forboding (much less commonly used)

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

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foreboding (plural forebodings)

1. A sense of evil to come.

   Synonym: augury

   • 1876 November, Henry James, Jr., chapter XIII, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, page 229:

     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.

   • 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 41:

     A sense of foreboding, the like of which he had never known before, hung heavily on him.

   • 1976 December 25, John Atteridg, “Going Home for the Holidays”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 26, page 18:

     I feel a slight foreboding about going home this year.

2. An evil omen.

foreboding (comparative more foreboding, superlative most foreboding)

1. Of ominous significance; serving as an ill omen; foretelling of harm or difficulty.

   Synonyms: inauspicious, portentous; see also Thesaurus:ominous

   • 2018, “Blood on the Street”, performed by Soulfly:

     Blood on the street / Foreboding god complex / She never knew she was next

foreboding

1. present participle and gerund of forebode