Ominous vs Onerous - What's the difference?
ominous | onerous |
Of or pertaining to an omen or to omens; being or exhibiting an omen; significant.
Specifically, giving indication of a coming ill; being an evil omen; threatening; portentous; inauspicious.
* California poll support for Jerry Brown's tax increases has ominous implications for U.S. taxpayers too Los Angeles Times Headline April 25, 2011
* {{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=April 29
, author=Nathan Rabin
, title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)
imposing]] or [[constitute, constituting a physical, mental, or figurative load which can be borne only with effort.
* 1820 , , "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow":
* 1848 , , Shirley , ch. 13:
* 1910 , , "The Golden Poppy" in Revolution and Other Essays :
As adjectives the difference between ominous and onerous
is that ominous is of or pertaining to an omen or to omens; being or exhibiting an omen; significant while onerous is imposing or constituting a physical, mental, or figurative load which can be borne only with effort.ominous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)citation, page= , passage=The idea of a merchant selling both totems of pure evil and frozen yogurt (he calls it frogurt!) is amusing in itself, as is the idea that frogurt could be cursed, but it’s really the Shopkeeper’s quicksilver shift from ominous doomsaying to chipper salesmanship that sells the sequence.}}
Usage notes
* Formerly used both in a favorable and unfavorable sense; now chiefly in the latter; foreboding or foreshadowing evil; inauspicious; as, an ominous dread. * Nouns to which "ominous" is often applied: sign, silence, warning, cloud, note, sound, shadow, threat, music, tone, implication, message, presence, development, voice, portent, turn, sky, figure, dream, event, trend, change, day, beginning, growl, cry, signal, pattern.Synonyms
* portentous * threateningDerived terms
* ominously * ominousnessExternal links
* *onerous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons, who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a grievous burden, and schoolmasters as mere drones, he had various ways of rendering himself both useful and agreeable.
- Again, and more intensely than ever, she desired a fixed occupation,—no matter how onerous , how irksome.
- [I]t has become an onerous duty, a wearisome and distasteful task.
