Word of the Day

Saturday, April 19, 2008

portent

\POR-tent\ , noun;

A sign of a coming event or calamity; an omen.

Prophetic or menacing significance.

Something amazing; a marvel.

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Quotes:

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

Origin:

Portent comes from Latin portentum, from portendere, "to stretch out before or into the future, to predict," from por- (variant of pro-), "before" + tendere, "to stretch out." Related words include portend, "to give an omen or sign of," and portentous, "ominous, foreboding."