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
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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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Trade tensions could worsen and tariffs could escalate, some analysts said, while noting the difficulty of anticipating exactly where the levies will land.—
Max Zahn,
ABC News,
25 June 2025
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Attentive, Personalized Service From the moment guests arrive, attentive doormen and reception staff recognize them by name and go out of their way to anticipate and address their needs.—
Irene S. Levine,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
Verb
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Forbes senior contributor Christian Weller writes that while the CPI report looks positive, there are troubling areas that could foreshadow larger problems in the coming months.—
Megan Poinski,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
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This foreshadowed a gradual cooling that would culminate in the most recent ice age.—
Tim Vernimmen,
Smithsonian Magazine,
5 June 2025
Verb
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Research and advisory firm Gartner predicted in February that by 2027, the average prices of application programming interfaces for genAI will fall to less than 1% of the current average price for the same technology.—
Bernice Ooi,
CNBC,
26 June 2025
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Even in the Aspen X Games test run, the tool predicted a top 3 order of finish that differed from the betting lines set by oddsmakers.—
David Bloom,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
Verb
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This early embrace of mechanical rhythm prefigured what would later become a foundation of hip-hop and electronic music.—
Jose Valentino Ruiz,
The Conversation,
13 June 2025
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Its extreme hostility to the very idea of liberal governance, its skepticism of democracy, and its faith in the primacy of the wealthy over the law all prefigured the way that Trump and Elon Musk would assail key functions of government in 2025.—
Zack Beauchamp,
Vox,
7 Dec. 2018
Verb
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The decision implies he might have been changed by Gi-hun’s choice to hold onto his humanity.—
Kayti Burt,
Time,
27 June 2025
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The final scene implies that so long as there are desperate individual people, there will always be an opportunity for a Squid Game.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
27 June 2025
Verb
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At the same time, those in the southern hemisphere will mark the winter solstice, which heralds the shortest day of 2025 below the equator.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
20 June 2025
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At the awards, chefs heralded their teams, heritage, and communities.—
Caroline Hatchett,
Robb Report,
19 June 2025
Verb
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But the group’s mentor never foresaw her protégé falling for a bad boy like Juni, who’s got a couple secrets up his sleeve as well.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
21 June 2025
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But there was no final agreement to cut the tax on British steel to zero as originally foreseen — seen as vital to preserving the U.K.’s beleaguered steel industry.—
Jill Lawless,
Fortune,
17 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Adumbrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adumbrate. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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