portend

English

WOTD – 27 July 2012    

Etymology

From the Latin portendere (“to foretell”), from por- (“forward”) + tendere (“to stretch”), present active infinitive of tendo.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /pɔːˈtɛnd/, X-SAMPA: /pO:"tEnd/

Verb

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

1. (transitive) to serve as a warning or omen

   A kingdom they portend thee, but what kingdom, / Real or allegoric, I discern not; Nor when: eternal sure--as without end, - John Milton, Paradise Lost

2. (transitive) to signify; to denote

   Let it be known that the Rapture portends the End of Days.

   • 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, The Onion AV Club:

     When the staccato, Neptunes-ian single “Boyfriend” was released in March, musical prognosticators were quick to peg the album it portended, Believe, as Justin Bieber’s Justified, a grown-and-sexy, R&B-centric departure that evolved millennial teenybopper Justin Timberlake into one of the unifying pop-music figures of the aughts.

Synonyms

• foreshadow
• presage

Related terms

• portent
• portentous

Translations

to serve as a warning or omen

• Finnish: tietää (fi)
• French: annoncer (fr), présager (fr)
• German: ankündigen (de), vorbedeuten (de), vorhersagen (de)
• Greek: προμηνύω (el) (prominýo), προαναγγέλω (el) (proanangélo)

• Russian: предвещать (ru) (predveščatʹ)
• Spanish: presagiar (es)
• Turkish: önceden belirtmek (tr), önceden haber vermek (tr)

to signify

• Finnish: merkitä (fi)
• German: deuten (de), hindeuten (de), hinweisen (de),, bedeuten (de)
• Greek: προμηνύω (el) (prominýo), προαναγγέλω (el) (proanangélo)

• Russian: предзнаменовывать (ru) (predznamenovyvatʹ)
• Spanish: significar (es)
• Turkish: alâmet olmak (tr), delâlet etmek (tr), (kötüye) işâret olmak (tr)

See also

• harbinger