ominously
/ˈɒmɪnəsli/
"ominously" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ominously” is uncommon English (frequency #51,888 among 1,431 “O” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,888
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In an ominous manner; with sinister foreboding.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ominously · ominously · English
ominously · rank #51,888 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,888
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH Onslow
Nearest frequency peer: Onslow (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “ominously”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- oliphant
oliphant
48,115 corpus weight
- ominously
ominously
48,113 corpus weight
- Onslow
Onslow
48,112 corpus weight
- optioned
optioned
48,111 corpus weight
- ornithology
ornithology
48,110 corpus weight
- orthodontist
orthodontist
48,109 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “ominously” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ominously |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈɒmɪnəsli/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #51,888 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ominously” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ominously is uncommon English at frequency #51,888 among 1,431 “O” headwords, classed as anadverb, transcribed /ˈɒmɪnəsli/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In an ominous manner; with sinister foreboding.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for ominously in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From ominous + -ly. The correct English form is ominously, spelled O-M-I-N-O-U-S-L-Y.
Definition
- 1In an ominous manner; with sinister foreboding.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ominously appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
From first to last he was ominously polite, and ominously silent.
His nostrils flared ominously and his fists opened and closed at his sides.
Etymology
From ominous + -ly.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ominously", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).