How to Use inauspicious in a Sentence

inauspicious

adjective
  • Despite its inauspicious beginnings, the company eventually became very profitable.
  • The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Flames.
    — Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2026
  • My beloved treat sat near the top of the inauspicious leaderboard.
    — Kristin Hostetter, Outside Online, 22 Jan. 2025
  • His bold, new venture got off to an inauspicious start, though.
    — Bob Carlton | [email protected], al, 14 Oct. 2020
  • Fruit tarts are often made with pâte brisée, an inauspicious name.
    — Bill Buford, The New Yorker, 19 Nov. 2020
  • Still, there were signs that the gathering was off to an inauspicious start.
    — Nicolas Parasie, WSJ, 23 Oct. 2018
  • The Rockies got off to an inauspicious start.
    — Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 19 Apr. 2026
  • Taylor and the Bengals are in the midst of an inauspicious time.
    — Tyler Dragon, The Enquirer, 6 Apr. 2021
  • This season had an inauspicious start, as the Bobcats lost their first two games.
    — Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 6 Jan. 2026
  • That suggests Snap’s second year may prove at least as inauspicious as its first.
    — Elizabeth Winkler, WSJ, 1 May 2018
  • But the ship's maiden voyage has gotten off to a rather inauspicious start.
    — Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, 22 Jan. 2018
  • Woods's round got off to an inauspicious start, as his drive on the long par-4 1st missed badly to the left.
    — Daniel Rapaport, SI.com, 6 May 2018
  • Ohtani’s seventh inning got off to an inauspicious start.
    — Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2026
  • The team had an inauspicious start to the season and limped into the playoffs with a 3-4 record.
    — Emmett Hall, sun-sentinel.com, 1 Aug. 2019
  • Its fifth game was against medal favorite Team Canada, and the game got off to an inauspicious start.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 13 Feb. 2022
  • The road trip ends in Atlanta, the place the Phillies’ season got off to an inauspicious start.
    — Bob Brookover, Philly.com, 12 Apr. 2018
  • Watson, 39, rose from that inauspicious start to become one of the best players in the world.
    — Gary D'amato, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 22 May 2018
  • In my line of work, there are few things as inauspicious as a plucky gal determined to make the best of a bad situation.
    — Raven Brunner, PEOPLE, 30 June 2026
  • New York City is off to an inauspicious start on the crime front in 2022.
    — William J. Bratton and Rafael A. Mangual, WSJ, 16 Feb. 2022
  • Both made the 53-man roster as rookies, but each had inauspicious first seasons.
    — Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Like many start-ups, the Gentleman's Box had an inauspicious start.
    — Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press, 23 July 2017
  • Perhaps it will all be worked out in the end, but this particular agreement seems to have gotten off to an inauspicious start.
    — David Blackmon, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2022
  • Since that inauspicious finish, which was a shock at the time, Hudson's career has flourished.
    — Christian Holub, EW.com, 2 Sep. 2022
  • Phil Mickelson's third round at the Masters got off to an inauspicious start.
    — Daniel Rapaport, SI.com, 7 Apr. 2018
  • The inauspicious run of injuries this summer has started to feel a lot like 2015.
    — Jenny Vrentas, SI.com, 13 Aug. 2017
  • Still, Mpoyi’s swift emergence came amid a rather inauspicious beginning to his journey.
    — Diamond Leung, Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar. 2026
  • Lucille is not a person but a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire that’s used with inauspicious results on the heads of enemies of one the show’s bad guys.
    — Glenn Garvin, miamiherald, 14 Jan. 2018
  • The Bears debut for both Williams and Waldron was inauspicious.
    — Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 15 Sep. 2024
  • This is a telling, inauspicious equivalence.
    — Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
  • This is a telling, inauspicious equivalence.
    — Victor J. Blue, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inauspicious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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