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
Cascio said the results don’t portend bad results for his party in November.
—
Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 25 Mar. 2026
The cacophony of drills and construction trucks outside Porte de Clichy Station portends a major public transit expansion, intended to benefit not just the city of Paris but the suburbs around it.
—Marie Patino, Bloomberg, 20 Mar. 2026
And many hoped that the observation of faster-than-light neutrinos would portend a revolution in physics, but those hopes evaporated with the discovery of a loose cable at the OPERA experiment.
—Big Think, 19 Mar. 2026
Smart, 50, received raises in 2022 and 2024, a cycle that could portend another salary increase this spring.
—Mike Griffith, AJC.com, 17 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for portend
Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 25 Mar. 2026
The cacophony of drills and construction trucks outside Porte de Clichy Station portends a major public transit expansion, intended to benefit not just the city of Paris but the suburbs around it.
—Marie Patino, Bloomberg, 20 Mar. 2026
And many hoped that the observation of faster-than-light neutrinos would portend a revolution in physics, but those hopes evaporated with the discovery of a loose cable at the OPERA experiment.
—Big Think, 19 Mar. 2026
Smart, 50, received raises in 2022 and 2024, a cycle that could portend another salary increase this spring.
—Mike Griffith, AJC.com, 17 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for portend
Recent Examples of Synonyms for portend
Verb
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Overall, Sosnowski predicts that a gradual warmup is forecast in most cases after a cool start to the week.—
Doyle Rice,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2026
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Large language models, or LLMs, are trained to predict the next most statistically likely word given everything that came before it, said Zhivar Sourati, a doctoral student at the University of Southern California and first author of the paper.—
Asuka Koda,
CNN Money,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But after economic crises, Orbán came to power by promising prosperity to the rich and poor alike, said Gábor Scheiring, a former Hungarian lawmaker now teaching at Georgetown University in Qatar.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
6 Apr. 2026
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In the nineties, the Danish government launched an urban-regeneration plan that paired public money with private development and promised new transit and tourist infrastructure.—
Eric Klinenberg,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
Verb
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What these changes bode for the business side is another matter altogether—one outside the control of crews and, for that matter, outside the prophetic purview of critics.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
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As the first region to feel the impact of the fuel crisis, Asia’s new supply issues bode poorly for the rest of the world, if oil and other resources can’t be produced in or shipped from the Middle East.—
Stephanie Yang,
CNN Money,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
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An index of 50 is balanced and presages neither economic expansion nor contraction.—
Edward Lotterman,
Twin Cities,
5 Apr. 2026
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But for the rest, there are some intriguing changes that could presage real success.—
Eno Sarris,
New York Times,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The shooting prompted protests over police use of force, and calls for police to stop foot pursuits altogether until the department overhauls its chase policies.—
CBS Chicago Team,
CBS News,
6 Apr. 2026
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Michael recommended a company called SwissChems.—
Dhruv Khullar,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But before Othership and Akari Sauna, the 1970 film Deep End foretold this trend in a much creepier and surrealist manner.—
Air Mail,
Air Mail,
28 Mar. 2026
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Their four-volume distillation of all aspects of the Pittsburgh economy foretold the decline the region would face due to the shifting economic geography of the steel industry and Pittsburgh’s extreme lack of industrial diversification – things local leaders commonly saw as strengths.—
Christopher Briem,
The Conversation,
25 Mar. 2026
Verb
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There was no obvious precipitating event, but the encroachment of Grok seemed foreboding.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
New Yorker,
14 Mar. 2026
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The windowless hallways are narrow in the federal building that houses this immigration court, and the agents’ stocky bodies are foreboding in the tight corridors.—
Catherine E. Shoichet,
CNN Money,
1 Dec. 2025
Verb
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But Bondi’s departure does not augur a better world to come.—
Ruth Marcus,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
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This is a massive shift from late last year, when talk of an AI bubble augured capital expenditures that would come back to bite tech companies when token demand plummeted.—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
1 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Portend.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/portend. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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