A comet that year was taken as a portent of some imminent but incalculable change.
-- Patrick Smith, Japan: A Reinterpretation
To Mohammed, the relentless sandstorm was foreboding, a portent of divine will.
-- Anthony Shadid, "In an Ominous Sky, a City Divines Its Fate", Washington Post, March 26, 2003
For the blood-stained rivals, it's a dignified moment, filled with portent.
-- Michelle Levander, "In a Different World", Time, June 4, 2001
