portend
English
Etymology
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Borrowed from Latin portendere (“to foretell”), from por- (“forward”) + tendere (“to stretch”), present active infinitive of tendo.
Pronunciation
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- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /pɔɹˈtɛnd/
- Rhymes: -ɛnd
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.
- John Milton, Paradise Lost
- 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
- (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”, in The Onion AV Club[1]:
- 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
Related terms
Translations
to serve as a warning or omen
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to signify
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