An inauspicious event is one that gives signs that success is unlikely. The meeting got off to an inauspicious start when he was late. auspicious. seeming to show that success in the future is unlikely auspicious
presaging ill-fortune; "ill omens"; "ill predictions"; "my words with inauspicious thunderings shook heaven"- P B Shelley; "a dead and ominous silence prevailed"; "a by-election at a time highly unpropitious for the Government"