herald

1 of 2

noun

her·ald ˈher-əld

ˈhe-rəld

Synonyms of herald next

: an official at a tournament of arms (see arm entry 3 sense 1a) with duties including the making of announcements and the marshaling of combatants

: an officer with the status of ambassador acting as official messenger between leaders especially in war

c(1)

: officer of arms

(2)

: an officer of arms ranking above a pursuivant and below a king of arms

: an official crier or messenger

Mercury was the gods' herald.

: one that precedes or foreshadows

heralds of a coming storm

: one that conveys news or proclaims : announcer

it was the lark, the herald of the morn—

William Shakespeare

: one who actively promotes or advocates : exponent

herald

2 of 2

verb

heralded; heralding; heralds

transitive verb

: to give notice of : announce

a gong used to herald the new year

the approach of a cold air mass … is heralded by a shift of the wind—

P. E. James

: to greet especially with enthusiasm : hail

doctors are heralding a new drug

: publicize

a highly heralded event

: to signal the approach of : foreshadow

The technology heralded a new age of space exploration.

Did you know?

While herald the verb is more common today, herald the noun is older. When the word was first used in the early 14th century, it referred to an official at a tournament (one of those knightly sporting events the Middle Ages are famous for); the herald's duties included making announcements, hence the word's uses relating to announcements, literal and metaphorical. The word is ultimately Germanic in origin, coming from a long-lost word that can be translated as "one directing or having authority over a body of armed men," though like so many words of 14th century vintage, it came to English by way of Anglo-French. The resemblance between herald and the name Harold is not coincidental: Harold is a modern form of Chariovalda, the name of a 1st century C.E. leader of the Batavi, a tribe who lived on the lower Rhine. The Germanic source of Chariovalda, turned into a generic noun, is also the source of herald.

Choose the Right Synonym for herald

forerunner, precursor, harbinger, herald mean one that goes before or announces the coming of another.

forerunner is applicable to anything that serves as a sign or presage.

the blockade was the forerunner of war

precursor applies to a person or thing paving the way for the success or accomplishment of another.

18th century poets like Burns were precursors of the Romantics

harbinger and herald both apply, chiefly figuratively, to one that proclaims or announces the coming or arrival of a notable event.

their early victory was the harbinger of a winning season

the herald of a new age in medicine

Example Sentences

Noun The early flowers are heralds of spring. Mercury was the herald of the Roman gods. Verb Rain heralds the arrival of spring. The technology heralded a new age of space exploration.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

This Easter, Americans will devour more than 1 billion Peeps — those radiant marshmallow chicks whose appearance on store shelves each year is as much a herald of spring as azaleas at the Masters. —

Haven Daley, Fortune, 7 Apr. 2023 The herald trumpets produced quite a blaze of sound. —

Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 30 Mar. 2023 There shall arrive a herald! —

Adam Rogers, Wired, 11 Feb. 2021 Since then, the dandy has returned—in some form or another—nearly every February for ninety-eight years, as the herald of the magazine’s anniversary issue. —

Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2023 Silver is a reflection of the age, a herald, not a prophet. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 26 Nov. 2012 Magliano is the herald of a broken, slow classicism that looks mournful, undone and dangling, but also beautiful and full of life, much in the glorious vein of Comme and Yohji, with a leftist Italian twist. —

Angelo Flaccavento, CNN, 17 Jan. 2023 Its annual settings are attended with a kind of fretful enthusiasm — a bit like Groundhog Day, if Punxsutawney Phil was the herald of nuclear winter, with no spring ever to come again. —

Stephen C. George, Discover Magazine, 20 Jan. 2022 Professor Anne Curry became the first female herald to take part in the royal procession inside Westminster, having been appointed to the post of Arundel Herald Extraordinary on Monday. —

Phil Boucher, PEOPLE.com, 10 May 2022

Verb

Incumbent Trenton Bourguet appears to have a slight edge in that race but Notre Dame transfer Drew Pyne and heralded high school prospect Jaden Rashada are in the hunt as well. —

Michelle Gardner, The Arizona Republic, 13 Apr. 2023 One village in central Japan recorded just one newborn child in 25 years – a birth that was heralded as a miracle for the town’selderly residents. —

Jessie Yeung, CNN, 13 Apr. 2023 The series became a breakout hit for Netflix and heralded a true-crime boom on the service. —

Gene Maddaus, Variety, 14 Mar. 2023 And to this day, Crump is heralded as co-leading what would become Disneyland’s greatest version of Tomorrowland, a sort of mod vision of future-past that opened in 1967. —

Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2023 Yamamoto’s brand is one of the few heralded by the archival fashion movement whose revival hasn’t been propped up by appearances on the red carpet. —

Rachel Tashjian, Harper's BAZAAR, 10 Mar. 2023 Miller was in Mount Vernon Friday morning for the kickoff of Flower Mart, the annual festival highlighting plants, local goods and the lemon stick, the event’s signature sweet and sour treat that heralds the start of spring for many Baltimoreans. —

Amanda Yeager, Baltimore Sun, 5 May 2023 In early March, Feinstein announced that she was hospitalized for shingles, roughly two weeks after coming down with the painful, blistering rash that heralds the reawakening of the long-dormant varicella zoster virus. —

Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2023 More importantly, the song hit its commercial peak two months before the British Invasion, heralded by The Beatles’ January ’64 arrival on the Hot 100, forever transformed the sound and role of rock music in pop culture. —

Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, 24 Apr. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'herald.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English heraud, herald, harawd, borrowed from Anglo-French heraud, herald (continental Old French nominative hirauz, oblique hyraut), borrowed from Old Low Franconian *heriwalda-, from *heri- "body of armed men" (going back to Germanic *harja-) + *-walda- "one directing or having authority," noun derivative of *waldan- "to have authority over, rule" — more at harry, wield

Note: The Germanic compound noun exemplified by *heriwalda- is evident very early as a personal name, Chariovalda, a leader of the Batavi (a tribe living on the lower Rhine) mentioned by Tacitus (1st century a.d.). Later forms of the name are Hereweald (Old English) and Haraldr (Old Norse), whence the modern name Harold, and Heriwald (Old High German).

Verb

Middle English herauden "to sound the praises of," borrowed from Middle French hirauder, herauder "(of a herald) to proclaim publicly, to praise unreservedly," derivative of hiraud, heraud herald entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of herald was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century