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Middlemarch vocabulary
551 vocabulary words, including people, places, music, artists, etc.
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baleful
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synonyms: pernicious, malefic ???
► definition
Definition:1. Full of deadly or pernicious influence; destructive.2. Full of grief or sorrow; woeful; sad. [Archaic]Noah Webster. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
► uses
Uses:
I'll give five dollars to any nigger as catches 'em. [...] Many of the men sprang forward, officiously, to offer their services, either from the hope of the reward, or from that cringing subserviency which is one of the most baleful effects of slavery.
Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin
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Dick had turned—with the teacher's long paper knife in his hand and baleful hate in his prominent eyes.
Zane Grey. The Valley of Wild Horses (1947)
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And, removing his boots, he followed the Queen into the Palace, as she led the way with a baleful expression upon her dark and inscrutable face.
F. Anstey. The Black Poodle and Other Tales (1896)
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Her temper was too sweet for her to show any anger, but she felt that her happiness had received a bruise, and for several days merely to look at Fred made her cry a little as if he were the subject of some baleful prophecy.
George Eliot. Middlemarch
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Under the baleful gaze of Boaz, he came smartly to attention, did an about-face, heard a snare drum in his head, and marched out of the barrack in step with the drum.
Kurt Vonnegut. The Sirens of Titan (1959)
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I jumped and shuddered, spilling the port, as the door crashed open once more. One damn thing after another, I thought balefully.
Diana Gabaldon. Outlander (1991)
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“Easy credit terms,” she said balefully. “That’s how your father ended up bankrupt. [...]"
Stephen King. The Stand (1990)
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Can any treasure in this transitory pilgrimage be of more value than a friend? in whose bosom thou mayst sleep secure without fear, whom thou mayst make partner of all thy secrets without suspicion of fraud, and partaker of all thy misfortune without mistrust of fleeting, who will accompt thy bale his bane, thy mishap his misery, the pricking of thy finger the piercing of his heart.
John Lyly. Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578)
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