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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Those detours foreshadowed Paris, where the styling again backs away from surface-level pink and redistributes it to the interior.—
Maggie Clancy,
Footwear News,
8 Nov. 2025
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The Virginia gubernatorial contests foreshadowed Republican wins in 1993, 2009, and 2021.—
W. James Antle III,
The Washington Examiner,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Will Woll’s return to the Leafs come earlier than the organization anticipated?—
Joshua Kloke,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
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Its official commissioning has been highly anticipated in China, where the country’s rapid military modernization, including the expansion of its navy, has been a deep source of national pride.—
Brad Lendon,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Tragedy strikes many times in this decades-spanning story, in many forms, but the defining event of Grainier’s life sees his home burned to the ground, an event that eerily prefigures the LA fires of early 2025.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
8 Nov. 2025
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The dynamic prefigured the White House of Bush 43, which the Veep largely staffed, and substantially dominated.—
Karl Vick,
Time,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Lucas predicted after the season-opening win over Jacksonville that Reneau would emerge as the team’s leading scorer this season.—
Michelle Kaufman,
Miami Herald,
11 Nov. 2025
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City officials have struggled to predict water availability in the recent past, especially as the ongoing drought on the Colorado River has continued delivering terrible water years.—
Austin Corona,
AZCentral.com,
10 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Some autoimmune diseases also can remit on their own for reasons that remain unclear, implying that not every patient may require lifelong therapy.—
Jason Liebowitz,
The Atlantic,
4 Nov. 2025
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This tells us that if P being true implies Q being true, then Q being false implies P also must be false.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
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From the time the practice became a significant industry in the 18th century to its official ban in 1986, whale hunters were heralded with songs and literature celebrating their exploits.—
Justin Worland,
Time,
5 Nov. 2025
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The November full moon is upon us, heralding a spectacular natural light show as the largest supermoon of 2025 takes to the sky near the peak of the Southern Taurid meteor shower, which is known for producing dramatic fireball shooting stars.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Mike Deising, a spokesperson for MISO, said that the non-profit grid operator foresees enough energy generation to meet demand for this year and next.—
Sophie Hartley,
IndyStar,
4 Nov. 2025
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Since 2021, these companies have collaborated on research and development concerning sub-terahertz devices, foreseeing the dawn of the 6G era.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Adumbrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adumbrate. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
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