portend - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

por·tend

Audio Help [pawr-tend, pohr-] Pronunciation Key

–verb (used with object)

1.	to indicate in advance; to foreshadow or presage, as an omen does: The street incident may portend a general uprising.

2.	to signify; mean.

[Origin: 1400–50; late ME < L portendere to point out, indicate, portend, var. of prōtendere to extend. See pro-¹, tend¹

]

—Synonyms 1. foretell, forecast, augur, promise, forebode.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
portend

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

por·tend Audio Help (pôr-těnd', pōr-) Pronunciation Key
tr.v. por·tend·ed, por·tend·ing, por·tends

To serve as an omen or a warning of; presage: black clouds that portend a storm.
To indicate by prediction; forecast: leading economic indicators that portend a recession.

[Middle English portenden, from Latin portendere; see ten- in Indo-European roots.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
portend

1432, from L. portendere "foretell," originally "to stretch forward," from por- (variant of pro-) "forth, forward" + tendere "to stretch, extend" (see tenet).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

portend
verb
indicate by signs; "These signs bode bad news"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Portend

Por*tend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Portended; p. pr. & vb. n. Portending.] [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.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day Archive - Cite This Source - Share This

portend

portend was Word of the Day on January 15, 2000.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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