What's the difference between portentous and solemn?

Portentous


Definition:

  • (a.) Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreshadowing, esp. foreshadowing ill; ominous.
  • (a.) Hence: Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; dreadful; as, a beast of portentous size.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) David Moyes' first season in charge of United has been conspicuously torrid one, but a win here tonight would earn him no shortage of goodwill from supporters anxious for portents of better things to come next season.
  • (2) Theranos is a perfect tech company name – it sounds mysterious, Greek and portentous.
  • (3) In the letter written to the papers by 60 leading medical professionals on the first day of the House of Lords debate two weeks ago, they said portentously "the British people do not support the privatisation of the NHS".
  • (4) Even before final results were announced a statement from Romney, who was campaigning in Texas, sought to capitalise on the victory by acclaiming it a portent of what was to come.
  • (5) But the commander made it clear he considered full withdrawal to be a portent of disaster.
  • (6) The portents do not look good for Malaysia's opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim , whose trial on highly dubious sodomy charges draws to a close this week.
  • (7) The advocacy of computer operators' needs by user-welfare groups, universities, labor unions, and government agencies are portents for achieving genuine improvements.
  • (8) Russell Crowe looks on stentorian form as the pre-flood patriarch, reeling from portents of the apocalypse and determined to protect his wife (Jennifer Connelly), his adopted daughter (Emma Watson) and the animals of the world.
  • (9) In previous tournaments that might have been seen as typical of the Murphy’s law that seems to apply to England at international competitions or at least as an ominous portent of things to come.
  • (10) Certain fishes have occasional circulating erythroplastids, conceptually a portent of phylogenetic changes in higher vertebrates.
  • (11) "My older brother Matt did it," he said, portentously, "I have to beat him."
  • (12) 42.5% - show that head injuries are most frequent; however, lesions of shoulders and upper and lower extremities are far more portentous ++ to the affected players in many respects.
  • (13) It is up to Wenger now to prove it was a blip rather than a portent of things to come.
  • (14) The ongoing refugee crisis in Europe is a portent, the last thing China wants to face in its own back yard.
  • (15) Today those theories are Film School 101, and Battleship Potemkin's technique is talked about more than its political portent.
  • (16) He described the Community Shield as being somewhere between a pre-season friendly and a Premier League fixture and he cautioned against it being treated as a portent for the season.
  • (17) These two cases serve to alert the physician that severe hypocholesterolemia is a portentous finding that may be associated both with a wide variety of diseases and with a high mortality rate.
  • (18) Add it all together and the portents are highly encouraging.
  • (19) After a party conference season in which health funding pledges were prominent, and with the NHS set to feature heavily in the runup to the 2015 general election, the byelection is a portent of political battles to come.
  • (20) The portent of these different haemostatic mechanisms upon repair of the endothelial cell wall and neovascularization have yet to be determined.

Solemn


Definition:

  • (a.) Marked with religious rites and pomps; enjoined by, or connected with, religion; sacred.
  • (a.) Pertaining to a festival; festive; festal.
  • (a.) Stately; ceremonious; grand.
  • (a.) Fitted to awaken or express serious reflections; marked by seriousness; serious; grave; devout; as, a solemn promise; solemn earnestness.
  • (a.) Real; earnest; downright.
  • (a.) Affectedly grave or serious; as, to put on a solemn face.
  • (a.) Made in form; ceremonious; as, solemn war; conforming with all legal requirements; as, probate in solemn form.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) wearefriendlyfires.com Ceremoniously slow and with a mood of solemn self-satisfaction and reflective pride, the most I can say about this is every note of it is archetypal national anthem fodder.
  • (2) Facebook Twitter Pinterest China dismisses Trump call with Taiwan as ‘small trick’ However, Beijing’s public response has so far been measured, with the foreign ministry lodging a “solemn representation” with Washington and the foreign minister, Wang Yi, downplaying the development as “a petty move” by Taiwan.
  • (3) Holocaust survivors and government officials have gathered at the memorial site of the former concentration camp Bergen-Belsen in northern Germany , in a solemn ceremony to commemorate the liberation of the camp 70 years ago.
  • (4) In Kentucky , county clerks issue marriage licenses, and someone else must “solemnize” the marriage.
  • (5) Referring to the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in what Beijing calls “the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression”, Hua said: “We solemnly urge the Japanese side to draw hard lessons from history.” Satellite images Chinese-built runway artificial island finished Read more China is planning a large-scale military parade to mark the end of the second world war in the Pacific.
  • (6) Reality, fantasy and war Call of Duty has never been a series to offer solemn commentary on the nature of war.
  • (7) Still, I like to believe that these small-scale ventures, too, make some contribution to a conversation without limits or proscriptions; the sine qua non of the sort of society that knows to keep the solemn and the pious at bay.
  • (8) He brings us his mackerel, and his marigolds, as a child just able to walk solemnly brings objects … a birdcage, or a colander … and deposits them as an offering before the attentive adult."
  • (9) Holding a Qur’an and looking solemn, Barrow was sworn in at the Gambian embassy in Dakar, where he has spent the past few days, and delivered his inaugural speech as president.
  • (10) It solemnly proclaimed Ireland's independence, appointed ambassadors to the Peace Conference, where they have not yet been bidden, passed an address to the free nations of the world, and made some pretence of framing orders for its domestic procedure.
  • (11) In short, these solemn written principles of engagement had not been agreed, written, or signed by anyone at the point Crosby was engaged by the Conservative party.
  • (12) 'No,' he said with his usual solemn deliberation, 'it was the downfall of a great people and a great civilisation.'
  • (13) He also produced this effect in some of his sculptures, for example Untitled (Funerary Box for a Lime Green Python) (1954), where a pair of solemn-looking palm leaves gives the work a consciously ritualistic tone.
  • (14) Right up until Sunday's first-round vote, the frenetic Sarkozy, known as the "president of bling" was apologising for what he called his lack of solemnity at the start of his presidency.
  • (15) Pistorius had solemnly entered the court wearing a grey suit and blue tie.
  • (16) Nato’s security guarantee is treaty commitment and all allies have made ... a solemn commitment to defend each other.
  • (17) Rakoff nodded in solemn agreement, although she had no idea who this Jerry person was.
  • (18) More arrived every minute, until, when an ambulance left carrying the bodies of Liu and Ramos, they formed a vast and silent honour guard, saluting solemnly in the flashing lights.
  • (19) In return, we give them a solemn pledge: that we shall keep their role secret.
  • (20) But the apology was delivered with enough solemnity to win some credit.