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adumbrating

verb

present participle of adumbrate
as in foreshadowing
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

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for adumbrating
  1. foreshadowing
  2. prefiguring
  3. predicting
  4. implying
  5. anticipating
  6. heralding
  7. foreseeing
Verb
  • Wingo also thrived, catching seven passes for 121 yards and a score, foreshadowing the issues opponents will have trying to blanket both him and Coleman on the outside.
    — Sam Khan Jr, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Lee saw the events foreshadowing a dark future for his country and maybe the world — changes in technology and wealth leaving workers behind.
    — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of foreshadowing
Verb
  • On the city’s West Side, the site of storied clubs such as Silvio’s as well as the Maxwell Street Market, blues musicians developed a style of electric blues in the 1950s that typically included a horn section (prefiguring soul music).
    — René Ostberg, Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 July 2026
Definition of prefiguring
Verb
  • His point is that although LLMs, no less than chess engines and other specialist systems, are trained on a specific task—namely, predicting the next word in a text passage—that task is special.
    — George Musser, Scientific American, 17 Sep. 2026
  • The Sudan Doctors Network, a medical group tracking the war in Sudan, reported earlier that 67 bodies were pulled from the rubble, predicting that the death toll could increase as rescuers continued their search.
    — Yasir Abdallah, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of predicting
Verb
  • Widening gap The gap between hyperscaler CDS and bank CDS has widened to around 60 basis points from roughly 0 since October of 2025, implying that hyperscaler credit risk is increasing on its own terms, Slok's research shows.
    — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2026
  • The five national title favorites plus Indiana, Oregon and Texas Tech all have minus-odds, implying each have a greater than 50 percent chance to make the CFP.
    — Dan Santaromita, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of implying
Verb
  • The greater opportunity lies in anticipating which capabilities will be needed repeatedly, where constraints may emerge and which technologies can create value in space and on Earth.
    — Shelli Brunswick, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026
  • That remained the case late Sunday night, with a league source close to Leonard anticipating that the trade could be completed in the coming days.
    — Matt Schubert, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of anticipating
Verb
  • The pavilion will open on November 20, heralding the arrival of the inaugural Rubaiya Qatar.
    — News Desk, Artforum, 10 Sep. 2026
  • That would mark a decisive break from the generally low and comparatively stable inflation environment that followed the global financial crisis — heralding wide-ranging implications for investors' portfolios.
    — Hugh Leask, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of heralding
Verb
  • Nate Davis does the honors again, foreseeing the winners of all 272 regular-season games to propose win-loss records for all 32 teams.
    — Jim Reineking, USA Today, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Nevertheless, Patel remains optimistic, foreseeing a future where human creativity and critical thinking combine with AI's potential for endless possibilities.
    — Michael Ashley, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of foreseeing
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Adumbrating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adumbrating. Accessed 20 Sep. 2026.

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