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.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of portend
This competition not only portends the future of many other countries but also what great power competition will look like as energy evolves.
—
Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2025
The European Central Bank on Thursday cut its main interest rate as Trump’s tariffs portend to impact the region’s economy.
—John Towfighi, CNN Money, 17 Apr. 2025
Entering last year’s Masters, Morikawa’s numbers weren’t portending greatness ahead.
—Justin Ray, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2025
All of his best highlights seem to portend defeat for his team, including other poster dunks on Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert and Houston’s Cam Whitmore this season.
—Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 23 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for portend
Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2025
The European Central Bank on Thursday cut its main interest rate as Trump’s tariffs portend to impact the region’s economy.
—John Towfighi, CNN Money, 17 Apr. 2025
Entering last year’s Masters, Morikawa’s numbers weren’t portending greatness ahead.
—Justin Ray, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2025
All of his best highlights seem to portend defeat for his team, including other poster dunks on Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert and Houston’s Cam Whitmore this season.
—Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 23 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for portend
Recent Examples of Synonyms for portend
Verb
-
Ultimately, the company’s ambition is to build a computational model that captures the behaviours of every molecule inside a living cell and to predict how each of these molecules will change with health, disease or exposure to drugs.—
David Prosser,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2025
-
Scientists predict that within the next 15 years this ice cap will disappear in summer for the first time in millennia, accelerating global warming.—
Alec Luhn,
Scientific American,
20 May 2025
Verb
-
The state promised more than $154 million in incentives over the next 10 years, and the Fortune 500 company has committed $175 million in private investment for the project to renovate 427,000 square feet of space across two Aspiria Campus buildings.—
Taylor O’Connor,
Kansas City Star,
30 May 2025
-
Tesla has not confirmed that start date, but has been promising to launch a robotaxi ride-hailing service in Austin before the end of June.—
Lora Kolodny,
CNBC,
30 May 2025
Verb
-
This unilateral order presaged a series of alarming power grabs in the following months—beginning with immigration.—
Kica Matos,
Time,
2 May 2025
-
Now, though, an executive order signed by President Trump could presage legal challenges of pioneering California laws that overhauled school discipline by banning willful defiance suspensions for K-12 students.—
Daniel Miller,
Los Angeles Times,
1 May 2025
Verb
-
However, today most young people rarely call each other.—
Andrea Wigfield,
CNN,
14 Feb. 2023
-
Marx himself would call DEI a classic case of ideology, a set of benign-seeming ideas that disguise the workings of the rulers, in this case empowered progressives.—
WSJ,
WSJ,
14 Feb. 2023
Verb
-
But is the past foolproof in foretelling the future?—
Greg Cote,
Miami Herald,
17 May 2025
-
Ultimately, lawyers can’t foretell what will happen at the airport, Oza said.—
Makiya Seminera,
Los Angeles Times,
5 May 2025
Verb
-
With the third season of The White Lotus well underway—and its signature sense of foreboding steadily mounting—cast member Michelle Monaghan was in anything but ominous spirits last night at The Mark Hotel.—
Laura Neilson,
Vogue,
19 Mar. 2025
-
Too on-the-nose to be foreboding, such clips offer a window into Linda’s mindset, as do antagonistic sessions with her therapist (and co-worker), amusingly played by Conan O’Brien with a look of constant gastric discomfort on his face that suggests her concerns may be giving him ulcers.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
24 Jan. 2025
Verb
-
The jump could augur a potential wave of bankruptcy filings as consumers start to buckle under a record level of debt and as tariffs fuel inflation, the company warned in a report this week.—
Alain Sherter,
CBS News,
22 Apr. 2025
-
So far, the Trump administration’s moves with China augur well.—
A. Wess Mitchell,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Portend.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/portend. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share