as in to anticipate
to give a slight indication of beforehand
the strife in Bloody Kansas in the 1850s adumbrated the civil war that would follow
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
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
-
Big-box retailers are stocking up ahead of the holidays, anticipating that demand will extend beyond traditional toy buyers like children and collectors.—
Luke Fountain,
CNBC,
18 Oct. 2025
-
The think tank also set out to create shadow versions of the OMB and of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel to anticipate legal challenges and counter internal pushback.—
Andy Kroll,
ProPublica,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Lee notes that several AI companies have already indicated their ability to flag user activity that appears to foreshadow a crime.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
11 Oct. 2025
-
Tellingly, these names belonged to a deceased mother and son, foreshadowing that Willa will eventually become a kind of parent to Bob.—
Robert Daniels,
Time,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Winter's wrath continues with another cold spell predicted for mid-February.—
Kaycee Sloan,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
21 Oct. 2025
-
Awards pundits predict that both White and Strong will be Oscar contenders for their performances, which have been praised by critics on the film festival circuit.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
These opulent volumes prefigure the label’s high jewelry offering.—
Sandra Salibian,
Footwear News,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Your 2018 book, The Lies That Bind, seems to have prefigured the backlash against a certain way of talking about identity—as essential or at least fixed—that was prevalent in the 2010s.—
Lula Konner,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
And pretty much all of the data suffer from the reality that, as any stats teacher will remind you, correlation does not necessarily imply causation.—
Stephanie H. Murray,
The Atlantic,
21 Oct. 2025
-
Morgan Stanley's 12-month price target of $800 implies 18% upside.—
Liz Napolitano,
CNBC,
21 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The re-release also heralds the studio’s shift into the short film space.—
Jazz Tangcay,
Variety,
15 Oct. 2025
-
Autumn has draped itself across the northern hemisphere, heralding the onset of longer, darker nights that serve as the perfect backdrop for amateur astronomers looking to explore the wonders of the night sky.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
And a deepfake economy will likely change things in ways no one can foresee.—
Deni Ellis Béchard,
Scientific American,
15 Oct. 2025
-
It’s been better than even the most optimistic among us could have foreseen.—
Chad Graff,
New York Times,
8 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Adumbrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adumbrate. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share