It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 9th.

Today's word is ominous, o m i n o u s

ominous is an adjective something described as ominous hints or suggests that something

bad is coming or is going to happen.

Here's the word used in a sentence from Arztechnica.com by Jennifer Willette.

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?

Ominous didn't always mean that something bad was about to happen.

If you look closely, you can see the 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 and 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, count on ominous to deliver the news beforehand.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolosky.

Visit Marion Webster

Webster.com today for definitions, word play, and trending word lookups.