MEANING
1. Expressing ill will or seeming to threaten harm.
2. Harmful or malign in its effects, as with an influence, practice, or consequence.
Use it for
Hostile scrutiny, damaging legacies, warnings conveyed through demeanor.Give a look or influence a harmful direction without proving supernatural power.
Words that belong together
- baleful glance
- baleful influence
- baleful presence
On the page
He gave the executor a baleful glance.
The old feud exerted a baleful influence on every marriage.
To the child, the portrait had a baleful presence after sunset.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- baleful
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Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. Literary; a baleful look suggests hostility, while a baleful influence suggests harmful effects. Not merely sad. Comparative more baleful; superlative most baleful. Derived adverb balefully.
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