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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of portend
The acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery, cost savings from artificial intelligence and an increasing focus on growing the streaming and studio assets portend well for the company's stock, the bank argued.
—
Davis Giangiulio,lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 1 May 2026
Anything below 50% favorability portends political trouble; right now Trump’s positive standing in polls hovers around a dismal 40%.
—Mark Barabak, Mercury News, 1 May 2026
Scott Waguespack, 32nd, argued the Monday hearing portended another difficult budget season for Johnson in the fall.
—Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026
Is Amy merely a subject to her mentally ill mother’s control issues, or does the curse portend a more awful revelation.
—Richard Newby, HollywoodReporter, 27 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for portend
Davis Giangiulio,lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 1 May 2026
Anything below 50% favorability portends political trouble; right now Trump’s positive standing in polls hovers around a dismal 40%.
—Mark Barabak, Mercury News, 1 May 2026
Scott Waguespack, 32nd, argued the Monday hearing portended another difficult budget season for Johnson in the fall.
—Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026
Is Amy merely a subject to her mentally ill mother’s control issues, or does the curse portend a more awful revelation.
—Richard Newby, HollywoodReporter, 27 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for portend
Recent Examples of Synonyms for portend
Verb
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The pin positions were far more accessible than the previous two days, as McIlroy had predicted.—
Doug Ferguson,
Chicago Tribune,
17 May 2026
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That’s for our golf coverage team at Aronimink — Brendan Quinn, Gabby Herzig and Brody Miller — to predict.—
Brendan Quinn,
New York Times,
17 May 2026
Verb
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In an effort to sway Altman, Musk's team invited him for a tour of a Tesla factory and promised him a board seat at Tesla.—
Ashley Capoot,Lora Kolodny,
CNBC,
18 May 2026
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The producers promise a celebration of Broadway’s full season.—
Clayton Davis,
Variety,
18 May 2026
Verb
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This doesn’t bode well for the levels and frequency of conflict (and just general frustration and misery).—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
16 May 2026
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That doesn’t bode well for summer road trip plans.—
Byron Hurd,
The Drive,
15 May 2026
Verb
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Hopkins turned in a tour de force creepy performance that presaged his Oscar-winning work in The Silence of the Lambs years later.—
Mike Fleming Jr,
Deadline,
15 May 2026
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But Henry Wilshire’s agreement with the city presaged a long struggle to build the system’s central artery, the D Line, which runs east to west underneath the city, roughly along the path of Wilshire Boulevard.—
Oren Peleg,
New Yorker,
9 May 2026
Verb
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So, the next time someone tries to gaslight you by asserting the authority of a mythical being over your own reading, call it out.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 May 2026
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Eisler showed him how to position himself on a metal-and-wood contraption called a reformer.—
Natalie Meade,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
Verb
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What that foretells for keeping that split career ongoing into the future remains to be told.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
15 May 2026
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The decision also foretold a cultural and political shift, which then executive editor Lacey Donohue — now a senior vp at Hulu — recognized immediately.—
Frank DiGiacomo,
HollywoodReporter,
8 May 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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The rehearsal augurs Starship’s coming test flight—its 12th—which will mark the first time the latest version of vehicle is put through its paces.—
Adam Kovac,
Scientific American,
12 May 2026
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And if faith is evaporating at Anfield, of all places, then that does not augur well.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Portend.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/portend. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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