as in predicted
formal + literary
to be a sign or warning that something usually bad or unpleasant is going to happen
The distant thunder portended a storm. If you're superstitious, a black cat portends trouble.
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Recent Examples of portended
That it was spliced with footage of his secret ex-girlfriend, Meija Moreno, confessing to Ciara Miller and Kyle Cooke via FaceTime that West had lied like crazy about their relationship status portended certain doom.
—
Marlow Stern, Variety, 10 June 2026
Watching MacKinnon take a puck to the right knee late in the second stanza portended the wrong kind of juju.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 25 May 2026
Scott Waguespack, 32nd, argued the Monday hearing portended another difficult budget season for Johnson in the fall.
—Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026
Residents near Hereford House who spied the visitors that morning may have wondered what their arrival portended for the town.
—Longreads, 5 Mar. 2026
That loss portended woe for Winnipeg, beginning its freefall.
—Andrew Knoll, Daily News, 8 Jan. 2026
And Smith was certain that these two short plays portended a great future for the twenty-year-old in the dramatic arts.
—Literary Hub, 12 Dec. 2025
Martin County’s anti-development history portended a quick and certain rejection by the county commission.
—Jeffrey Steele, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Marlow Stern, Variety, 10 June 2026
Watching MacKinnon take a puck to the right knee late in the second stanza portended the wrong kind of juju.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 25 May 2026
Scott Waguespack, 32nd, argued the Monday hearing portended another difficult budget season for Johnson in the fall.
—Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026
Residents near Hereford House who spied the visitors that morning may have wondered what their arrival portended for the town.
—Longreads, 5 Mar. 2026
That loss portended woe for Winnipeg, beginning its freefall.
—Andrew Knoll, Daily News, 8 Jan. 2026
And Smith was certain that these two short plays portended a great future for the twenty-year-old in the dramatic arts.
—Literary Hub, 12 Dec. 2025
Martin County’s anti-development history portended a quick and certain rejection by the county commission.
—Jeffrey Steele, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for portended
Verb
-
Two victories away from the franchise's first championship since 1973, Dolan went on WFAN today and predicted a Knicks title.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
11 June 2026
-
The young director tried to quit, then he was almost fired, and everybody predicted disaster.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
10 June 2026
Verb
-
In Kansas City, at least, that promised efficiency has yet to be realized.—
Kacen Bayless,
Kansas City Star,
17 June 2026
-
When the squad got home, they were not given the heroic treatment they were promised.—
Nick Miller,
New York Times,
17 June 2026
Verb
-
When a more advanced part of civilization encountered one that was less technologically advanced, it's never boded well.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
14 May 2026
-
But Graham does fit an archetype of front-office construction that has boded well for other organizations, particularly in his willingness to invest in a more modern approach to roster building.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
6 May 2026
Verb
-
The Las Vegas airport confirmed the pilot called an alert, but a British Airways spokesperson told CBS News the aircraft arrived as scheduled and did not declare an emergency.—
Kiki Intarasuwan,
CBS News,
16 June 2026
-
New Jersey governor Mikie Sherrill has been determined to avoid offsetting the costs on to taxpayers, and unsuccessfully called for FIFA to help share the cost burden, and Mamdani sympathizes with her position.—
Adam Crafton,
New York Times,
16 June 2026
Verb
-
Franco-Argentinian artist Julio Le Parc, whose innovations in kinetic and Op art presaged the interactive art of today, died in Paris on May 30.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
8 June 2026
-
There occurs in King’s memoir a similar scene, from the late Eighties, as if A Domestic Animal presaged sorrows to come.—
Charlie Tyson,
Harpers Magazine,
21 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The origin of its logo foretold the company's future role in creating many recognizable brands.—
Alexander Coolidge,
USA Today,
15 Apr. 2026
-
But before Othership and Akari Sauna, the 1970 film Deep End foretold this trend in a much creepier and surrealist manner.—
Air Mail,
Air Mail,
28 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
That may sound like a funny thing to say, in 2025, or in any year since the legendary rock singer-songwriter died in 2003, given a perennial underdog status that never augured for anything that would be likely to be called a posthumous groundswell, per se.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
24 Oct. 2025
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Husseini attempted to ply him with patronage, appointing him imam of a new mosque, but the cleric’s burgeoning following augured poorly for Husseini’s grip on power.—
Sean Durns,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
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His signature One Big Beautiful Bill policy package last year might add anywhere from $19 trillion to $32 trillion to the deficit over the next 30 years, making a debt heart attack as prophesied by Dalio all the more likely.—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
25 Feb. 2026
-
But about a dozen days before that projection, as Montgomery prophesied, the winger returned to the lineup Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers.—
Jeremy Rutherford,
New York Times,
19 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Portended.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/portended. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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