portentious, a.
(pɔːˈtɛnʃəs)
[Corruption of portentous a., infl. by pretentious a.]
Pretentious, pompous; portentous. Hence porˈtentiously adv.
| 1863 K. Stone Jrnl. 16 July in Brokenburn (1955) 227 The earth, the air, the sky, all are a dull dead grey. The sun seems to emit neither heat nor light, gleaming with a red glare like a blood-red moon... Some think it portenteous, a sign of great victories or defeats. 1937 in Partridge Dict. Slang. 1949 Sun (Baltimore) 21 Jan. 3/1 A portentious feature of this first telecast of a presidential inauguration was the use made of it in schools. 1956 Ibid. 20 Feb. (B ed.) 8/3 If you were lucky enough to have seen them, you witnessed a portentious enlargement of mankind's field of knowledge. 1958 Times 29 Oct. 3/1 A poem..was hammered home as a portentious statement containing the whole truth about the meaning, or meaninglessness, of life. 1962 John o'London's 15 Feb. 163/4 An Italian send-up of the portentious I.Q. flummery. 1975 Publishers Weekly 3 Mar. 64/2 Loving Ty whom she sees as somehow portentiously East Coast. |