forebode

English

Alternative forms

• forbode (much less commonly used)

Etymology

From Middle English foreboden, from Old English forebodian, equivalent to fore- +‎ bode.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔːˈbəʊd/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊd

Verb

forebode (third-person singular simple present forebodes, present participle foreboding, simple past and past participle foreboded)

1. To predict a future event; to hint at something that will happen (especially as a literary device).
   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     There can be, if I forebode aright, no power, short of the Divine mercy, to disclose, whether by uttered words, or by type or emblem, the secrets that may be buried with a human heart.

2. To be prescient of (some ill or misfortune); to have an inward conviction of, as of a calamity which is about to happen; to augur despondingly.
   • 1741, Conyers Middleton, Life of Cicero:

     Sullen, desponding, and foreboding nothing but wars and desolation, as the certain consequence of Caesar's death.

   • 1833–1834 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “The Two Voices”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 135:

     Here sits he shaping wings to fly: / His heart forebodes a mystery: / He names the name Eternity.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 160:

     Walter was disturbed by a low rap at the door. It was so indistinct and hesitating, that, at first, he thought himself mistaken; a second summons, however, led him to rise and open to his visitor. It was the very person that he foreboded—Mr. Curl.

Synonyms

• (to portend or foretell): foretell, portend, predict

Derived terms

• forebodement
• foreboder

Translations

to predict a future event; to hint at something that will happen (especially as a literary device)

• Bulgarian: вещая (bg) (veštaja)
• Greek:

  Ancient: μαντεύομαι (manteúomai)

• Italian: presagire (it), vaticinare (it)
• Latin: praesāgīo, portendō, polliceor
• Russian: предвеща́ть (ru) impf (predveščátʹ)
• Spanish: presagiar (es)
• Swedish: förebåda (sv)

Noun

forebode

1. (obsolete) prognostication; presage

See also

• bode

References

• “forebode”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.