as in to foreshadow
to give a slight indication of beforehand
the strife in Bloody Kansas in the 1850s adumbrated the civil war that would follow
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Recent Examples of adumbrate
In between, works by contemporaries complicate superficial ideas about his meteoric genius, and small, delicate drawings teem with an abundance of ideas — paintings never made, thoughts adumbrated then abandoned.
—
Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2019
Nothing in America’s tepid 19th-century contributions to European classical music adumbrated it; nor did the homely and sometimes hokey popular songs of Stephen Foster.
—Heather Mac Donald, National Review, 22 Aug. 2019
The helicopter crash, on the other hand, is a narrative dead end, merely adumbrating the portrait that Mr. Davenport will draw of Mr. Bezos as unflappable.
—Randall Stross, WSJ, 15 Apr. 2018
Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2019
Nothing in America’s tepid 19th-century contributions to European classical music adumbrated it; nor did the homely and sometimes hokey popular songs of Stephen Foster.
—Heather Mac Donald, National Review, 22 Aug. 2019
The helicopter crash, on the other hand, is a narrative dead end, merely adumbrating the portrait that Mr. Davenport will draw of Mr. Bezos as unflappable.
—Randall Stross, WSJ, 15 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for adumbrate
Verb
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Francesca is visibly flustered in Michaela’s presence, foreshadowing a future connection.—
Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
30 Jan. 2026
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Analysts are now looking to see further evidence of Apple's AI strategy, strong iPhone 17 demand that was foreshadowed in the previous quarter's results and whether memory costs are actually affecting its gross margins.—
Pia Singh,
CNBC,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
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For reasons that don’t bear going into here, this turned into a bigger fight than anyone anticipated.—
Maya Singer,
Vogue,
1 Feb. 2026
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Nobody could have anticipated that the profound affection Neihardt shared with his wife—later described by biographers as one of the great love stories in American letters—would converge with his work on Black Elk and culminate in one of the most exotic cases in the history of psychical research.—
Shannon Taggart,
Artforum,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Military action in Venezuela today without allies may prefigure action tomorrow against allies—for example, to invade and annex Greenland.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
3 Jan. 2026
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Tragedy strikes many times in this decades-spanning story, in many forms, but the defining event of Grainier’s life sees his home burned to the ground, an event that eerily prefigures the LA fires of early 2025.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Next, the researchers aim to improve their technique further, with the goal of predicting not only when solar activity will intensify, but also where on the sun’s surface active regions are likely to form.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
1 Feb. 2026
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The team predicts that, within five years, blood tests for early Parkinson’s diagnoses could become more common within clinical practice.—
Angelica Stabile,
FOXNews.com,
31 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Those covers may imply genres, but better book covers are based on concepts that reflect the content of the book and signal it to the consumer.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Feb. 2026
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The Institute for Postnatural Studies does not aim to conform to the dictates of traditional academia, as its name might imply.—
Catherine Taft,
Artforum,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The Carnation Revolution, which heralded Portugual’s transition to democracy, and the euphoria of freedom belong to the past.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
26 Jan. 2026
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Google’s scam detection was the driver behind the Android-maker’s safer-than-iPhone campaign that heralded Android’s lead in protecting users from malicious calls and text messages.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
24 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Indeed, Spiber’s plan foresees replacing a large amount of edible sugar with waste by 2026.—
Srishti Gupta,
Interesting Engineering,
28 Jan. 2026
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And Tester is foreseeing progress that goes far beyond the 2006 blue wave that swept him into office.—
Burgess Everett,
semafor.com,
28 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Adumbrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adumbrate. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.
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