| A German philosopher, for example, may transmit a superfluous toe or a prognathic jaw, but not his portentously developed brain. |
| She said it portentously, as bidding him remember he might be sorry when she was no more. |
| Among the few quincentenary projects to reach a satisfactory conclusion is a twelve-volume series called, somewhat portentously, the Repertorium Columbianum. |
| The small stuffed shop appeared to grow portentously cavernous and waveringly illumined. |
| Some, frowning portentously, thought the plane an unscheduled ocean flier who had lost his way in the fog. |
| I came down to my birthday breakfast on my eighth birthday and announced, formally and portentously, to my family that I was going to be an author. |
