as in to foreshadow
to give a slight indication of beforehand
the strife in Bloody Kansas in the 1850s adumbrated the civil war that would follow
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Recent Examples of adumbrate
In between, works by contemporaries complicate superficial ideas about his meteoric genius, and small, delicate drawings teem with an abundance of ideas — paintings never made, thoughts adumbrated then abandoned.
—
Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2019
Nothing in America’s tepid 19th-century contributions to European classical music adumbrated it; nor did the homely and sometimes hokey popular songs of Stephen Foster.
—Heather Mac Donald, National Review, 22 Aug. 2019
The helicopter crash, on the other hand, is a narrative dead end, merely adumbrating the portrait that Mr. Davenport will draw of Mr. Bezos as unflappable.
—Randall Stross, WSJ, 15 Apr. 2018
Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2019
Nothing in America’s tepid 19th-century contributions to European classical music adumbrated it; nor did the homely and sometimes hokey popular songs of Stephen Foster.
—Heather Mac Donald, National Review, 22 Aug. 2019
The helicopter crash, on the other hand, is a narrative dead end, merely adumbrating the portrait that Mr. Davenport will draw of Mr. Bezos as unflappable.
—Randall Stross, WSJ, 15 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for adumbrate
Verb
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Thousands gathered outside the gates hoping to glimpse the couple, turning what might have been a society wedding into a national spectacle—and foreshadowing the intense public fascination that would follow the Kennedys for decades.—
Abby Montanez,
Robb Report,
20 Mar. 2026
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Such a move seems to foreshadow one or more moves throughout the secondary in the draft.—
Jourdan Rodrigue,
New York Times,
16 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The analyst anticipates this, along with ORCL's leading database technology and an accelerating applications business, could ensure continued growth in the years ahead.—
TipRanks.com Staff,
CNBC,
22 Mar. 2026
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After nearly a four-year break, the preeminent Korean pop music group BTS is reuniting for a world tour featuring several dates in Latin America, where the group’s return is highly anticipated.—
Mitchell McCluskey,
CNN Money,
22 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The horror has come now like a storm— what if this night prefigured the night after death— what if all thereafter was an eternal quivering on the edge of an abyss, with everything base and vicious in oneself urging one forward and the baseness and viciousness of the world just ahead.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Mar. 2026
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The Kamm tail, with its upturned spoiler and flat panel adorned with Ferrari’s signature twin round taillights, is a nod to aerodynamics that prefigures the shape of the Lusso’s spiritual successor, the 275 GTB.—
Robert Ross,
Robb Report,
16 Feb. 2026
Verb
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In the Midwest, temperatures exceeding 90 were predicted across Nebraska, followed by a big drop to the 50s and 60s Sunday.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
22 Mar. 2026
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Each week since the season began in August, four of us — young Wilfred, a guest subscriber on rotation, an algorithm and I — have been predicting the Premier League scores with varying degrees of success.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
21 Mar. 2026
Verb
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In a response posted to social media, Kennedy hit back at the pediatrics academy's criticism, implying that corporate pharmaceutical funders influenced the organization's views.—
Mary Walrath-Holdridge,
USA Today,
22 Mar. 2026
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The book implies they were killed to keep them from talking about the heist.—
Edmund H. Mahony,
Hartford Courant,
22 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Laura’s arrival heralds an overhaul.—
Holden Seidlitz,
New Yorker,
20 Mar. 2026
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On the left, he’s heralded as the only voice capable of seducing young men disaffected by party politics.—
Abigail Sylvor Greenberg,
Vanity Fair,
20 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Huang doesn’t foresee this technology solely being used by Nvidia.—
Jake Angelo,
Fortune,
19 Mar. 2026
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For now, the company does not foresee closing additional stores – or opening new ones – and instead, will focus on improving performance at its existing stores.—
Mike Snider,
USA Today,
18 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Adumbrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adumbrate. Accessed 26 Mar. 2026.
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