Portend: meaning, example and synonyms
Portendv. To be a sign or warning that something, usually momentous or bad, is likely to happen.
Example
The sudden silence of the birds and a sharp drop in air pressure portended the arrival of the hurricane that meteorologists had been tracking for days.
- Part of speech
- verb
- Synonyms
- foreshadow, herald, presage, signal
- Antonyms
- follow from, result from
- Memory tip
- PORTEND = POinTs to the END coming: a warning sign.
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Check yourself: Portend in context
To the anxious villagers, the comet's sudden appearance ______ famine and war, though astronomers insisted it was merely a natural phenomenon.
Answer: portended. The villagers saw the comet as a warning of disaster, so it portended famine and war. subsumed (absorb into a larger whole), eschewed (avoid) and valorized (glorify) don't fit this context.
Economists worry that the steep decline in factory orders may ______ a broader recession in the coming year.
Answer: portend. A sign that a recession is coming is said to portend it. malign (slander), eschew (avoid) and valorize (glorify) don't fit this context.