- portentous \por-TEN-tus\, adjective:
- 1. Foreboding; foreshadowing, especially foreshadowing ill; ominous.
- 2. Marvelous; prodigious; wonderful; as, a beast of portentous size.
- 3. Pompous.
Well, crap. How can one word mean three completely different things? If you're supposed to interpret it in context, what if you make the wrong interpretation? I could talk about what a portentous day I'd had, and you might think some small thing went awry, foreshadowing something terrible that might happen later in the week. I'd have to give more details for you to make the correct interpretation, but still I might fail. I did an astonishing number of things today, including (but not limited to) making thrifty serendipity cards for selling bottle cap earrings; completing three bottle-cap-and-glass-pebble embellished crosses and starting two more; piecing together two Capri Sun bags; wrapping up a special thank-you project; walking with Cassie early this morning; teaching Sunday School; scribing a Town Hall meeting at church; typing up the notes and sending them to other members of the discernment committee; and taking a deep 2 hour nap. You might think me pompous, but I feel marvelous, prodigious, wonderful.
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