Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 9, 2024 is: ominous \AH-muh-nus\ adjective

Something described as ominous hints or suggests that something bad is coming or is going to happen.

// Our fears about the picnic being cancelled were heightened by the sight of dark, ominous clouds appearing over the horizon.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ominous)

Examples:

"The trailer opens with ominous signs of seismograph activity picking up as desert sands start to shift and a giant ape hand bursts out from below. 'For most of human civilization, we believed that life could only exist on the surface of our planet,' Andrews says in a voiceover. 'What else were we wrong about?'" — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica.com, 4 Dec. 2023

Did you know?

Ominous didn't always mean that something bad was about to happen. If you look closely, you can see the [omen](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/omen) in ominous, which gave it the original meaning of "being a sign of events to come"—whether good or bad. It ultimately comes from the Latin word omen, which is both an ancestor and a synonym of our omen. Today, however, ominous suggests a menacing or threatening aspect. Its synonyms [portentous](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/portentous) and [fateful](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fateful) are used similarly, but ominous is the most menacing of the three. It implies an alarming quality that foreshadows evil or disaster. So when [something wicked this way comes](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Macbeth-by-Shakespeare), count on ominous to deliver the news [aforehand](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aforehand).