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Although sages, being known for their great wisdom, are sometimes believed to possess the ability to predict the future, there is no connection between the noun sage and the verb presage, which means—as you’ve likely foreseen—“to foretell or predict.” While sage comes from the Latin verb sapere (“to be wise”), presage comes instead from a different Latin source: the adjective praesagus, a combination of the prefix prae and sagus, meaning “prophetic.” Presage entered English first as a noun referring to an omen, that is, something that foreshadows or portends a future event. A couple of centuries later it was joined by the verb, which is used for the action of foreshadowing, as in “the current economic slowdown could presage another recession,” and may apply to suggesting a coming event or indicating its likelihood.
Examples of presage in a Sentence
Darrell Smith
may 28, Sacbee.com, 28 May 2026
Andy Cohen was lost to the wormhole, presaging more losses to come.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 22 May 2026
Hopkins turned in a tour de force creepy performance that presaged his Oscar-winning work in The Silence of the Lambs years later.
—Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 15 May 2026
But Henry Wilshire’s agreement with the city presaged a long struggle to build the system’s central artery, the D Line, which runs east to west underneath the city, roughly along the path of Wilshire Boulevard.
—Oren Peleg, New Yorker, 9 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for presage
Cite this Entry
“Presage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/presage. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
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