as in to predict
formal + literary
to be a sign or warning that something usually bad or unpleasant is going to happen
The distant thunder portended a storm. If you're superstitious, a black cat portends trouble.
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Recent Examples of portend
What the public would get in that case is an honest, transparent debate about the wisdom, or lack thereof, of your fealty to CTU and what that portends for taxpayers and CPS families.
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The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 14 Nov. 2024
If that trend holds through the final day of voting on Tuesday, that portends Florida victories for former President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.
—Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 3 Nov. 2024
Read more: The Superstorm Era Is Upon Us How did Milton become such a beast—and does this portend more such storms to come?
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 8 Oct. 2024
For the prime minister, an election victory by Vice President Kamala Harris portended even more tension with Washington, perhaps even growing limits on U.S. backing for Israel.
—Shalom Lipner, Foreign Affairs, 25 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for portend 
The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 14 Nov. 2024
If that trend holds through the final day of voting on Tuesday, that portends Florida victories for former President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.
—Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 3 Nov. 2024
Read more: The Superstorm Era Is Upon Us How did Milton become such a beast—and does this portend more such storms to come?
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 8 Oct. 2024
For the prime minister, an election victory by Vice President Kamala Harris portended even more tension with Washington, perhaps even growing limits on U.S. backing for Israel.
—Shalom Lipner, Foreign Affairs, 25 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for portend
Recent Examples of Synonyms for portend
Verb
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And then — just as my colleague Joe Reid predicted — Kate Winslet for Lee, a biopic that has enjoyed a muted reception since debuting at last year’s TIFF.Jen Chaney, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2024
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Ampere predicted just under a third of the subs growth will come from APAC – numbering around 600 million people – a similar figure to North America.Max Goldbart, Deadline, 9 Dec. 2024
Verb
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During the campaign, Trump promised to sign a reciprocity bill into law.Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 19 Dec. 2024
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Bridge RNAs Represent the Next Generation of Gene Editing While CRISPR promises to revolutionize the treatment of rare diseases caused by mutations in a single gene, experts are already pioneering gene editing’s next frontier.Juergen Eckhardt, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Those numbers presaged an insurmountable hurdle for the incumbent Democratic Party.Paolo Confino, Fortune, 6 Nov. 2024
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This movie from director Roger Vadim presaged the coming wave of 1970s lesbian-vampire pictures.Jordan Crucchiola, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2024
Verb
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Those in need of shelter from the cold can call 211 to check availability of beds.Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2023
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Their children’s schoolmates call the sisters the Puffling Queens.Cheryl Katz, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Feb. 2023
Verb
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Some read — or at least, want to read — the dazzling display as foretelling a return to the fold — although that may be unlikely if Margiela owner Renzo Rosso has anything to say about it.Gráinne O'Hara Belluomo, WWD, 1 Dec. 2024
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On a more abstract level, though, the project did foretell a future in which amateur and professional producers crashed songs into one another.Jason Lipshutz, Billboard, 20 Nov. 2024
Verb
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Despite the difficulty, in some cases the stakes are so high—as with North Korea and its nuclear weapons—that armies will have no choice but to take the fight to what is often a vast, foreboding underworld.Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 27 June 2023
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There are foreboding close-ups on clock faces and their fast-changing digits.Erica Gonzales, ELLE, 23 June 2023
Verb
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Because election trends in similar-looking parts of the country tend to align with each other, a better-than-expected performance for one party in certain types of districts could augur well for them in other seats and produce a double-digit seat majority.Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News, 8 Oct. 2024
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Its early success contrasted with the chaos and high death tolls elsewhere and seemed to augur China’s coming of age as a major power.Harsh V. Pant, Foreign Affairs, 14 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near portend
Cite this Entry
“Portend.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/portend. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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