inauspicious

American  

[in-aw-spish-uhs] / ˌɪn ɔˈspɪʃ əs /

adjective

1. not auspicious; boding ill; ill-omened; unfavorable.

   Synonyms:

   unpromising, ill-timed, unpropitious

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inauspicious British  

/ ˌɪnɔːˈspɪʃəs /

adjective

1. not auspicious; unlucky

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Other Word Forms

• inauspiciously adverb
• inauspiciousness noun

Etymology

Origin of inauspicious

First recorded in 1585–95; in- ³ + auspicious

Explanation

Reaching into your hat to pull out a rabbit and instead removing a sock can seem like an inauspicious start to your magic show. Inauspicious describes something that seems unpromising or unlikely to be successful. If it's unlucky, badly timed, or it seems to point to an unhappy outcome, it's inauspicious. A dark, stormy sky on the day of a wedding can be seen as inauspicious, and so can an awkward job interview. The opposite of inauspicious is auspicious, which means lucky or promising. Both words come from the Latin auspicium, which has to do with predicting the future by observing the flight of birds.

Example Sentences

Still, Mpoyi’s swift emergence came amid a rather inauspicious beginning to his journey.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2026

Trump had headed into Davos late, after Air Force One broke down -- an inauspicious start to his trip.

From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026

Less than seven months have passed since that inauspicious debut, and Yesavage isn’t in Dunedin anymore.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025

And that’s not even mentioning the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles for weeks at the beginning of 2025, making the Oscars seem like an inauspicious and even tone-deaf tradition persisting in the face of tragedy.

From Salon • Mar. 3, 2025

First contacts between outsiders and New Guinea groups are always potentially dangerous, but this beginning was especially inauspicious.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond