PORTEND

bode, portend, auspicate, prognosticate, omen, presage, betoken, foreshadow, augur, foretell, prefigure, forecast, predict

(verb) indicate, as with a sign or an omen; “These signs bode bad news”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

portend (third-person singular simple present portends, present participle portending, simple past and past participle portended)

(transitive) To serve as a warning or omen of.

(transitive) To signify; to denote.

Synonyms

• foreshadow

• presage

Anagrams

• dropnet, protend

Source: Wiktionary


Por*tend", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Portended; p. pr. & vb. n. Portending.] Etym: [L. portendre, portentum, to foretell, to predict, to impend, from an old preposition used in comp. + tendere to stretch. See Position, Tend.]

1. To indicate (events, misfortunes, etc.) as in future; to foreshow; to foretoken; to bode; -- now used esp. of unpropitious signs. Bacon. Many signs portended a dark and stormy day. Macaulay.

2. To stretch out before. [R.] "Doomed to feel the great Idomeneus' portended steel." Pope.

Syn.

– To foreshow; foretoken; betoken; forebode; augur; presage; foreshadow; threaten.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

11 May 2025

MALLET

(noun) a light drumstick with a rounded head that is used to strike such percussion instruments as chimes, kettledrums, marimbas, glockenspiels, etc.


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Coffee Trivia

Coffee dates back to the 9th century. Goat herders in Ethiopia noticed their goats seem to be “dancing” after eating berries from a particular shrub. They reported it to the local monastery, and a monk made a drink out of it. The monk found out he felt energized and kept him awake at night. That’s how the first coffee drink was born.

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