adjective
-
harmful, menacing, or vindictive
-
archaic dejected
Other Word Forms
- balefully adverb
- balefulness noun
Etymology
Origin of baleful
before 1000; Middle English; Old English bealofull. See bale 2, -ful
Explanation
Baleful means the foreshadowing of tragic or evil events. If no one's listening in class and your teacher reprimands you with a baleful glance, expect a pop quiz. If your car breaks down and you take refuge in a deserted mansion, you might huddle under a dusty blanket and find yourself thinking that the wind moaning at the windows sounds baleful — maybe it's really the voice of a young woman murdered in the very bed where you sleep?
Vocabulary lists containing baleful
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 1–7
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for these baleful developments.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025
That’s the crux of horror flick “Good Boy,” in which Indy the retriever detects a baleful force that his human can’t see.
From Salon • Oct. 3, 2025
The details of Knight's upbringing were not disclosed in court, but Judge Richardson described them as "baleful".
From BBC • Sep. 5, 2025
They will all trace back to Wednesday, back to Dublin, back to the Europa League final, and they will all take exactly the same, baleful form: What if?
From New York Times • May 24, 2024
The Crochan squatted in its corner, black and baleful.
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
