war clouds are gathering

(also clouds of war are gathering) literary

Definition

If someone says that war clouds are gathering over a particular country, they mean that a war seems increasingly likely there

It was the 1930s and war clouds were gathering on the horizon in Europe.

(Definition of war clouds are gathering from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

Synonyms and related words:

worried or nervous about something that is going to happen

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