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
Martin County’s anti-development history portended a quick and certain rejection by the county commission.
—
Jeffrey Steele, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Jeffrey Steele, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for portended
Verb
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The science specialist university, together with Jabra, studied how voice technology will impact the future of work, and the scientists predicted that by 2028, voice AI will become the default way of working.—
Orianna Rosa Royle,
Fortune,
7 Nov. 2025
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The state's gross domestic product growth will be less than 2%, Pakko predicted.—
Sydney Sasser,
Arkansas Online,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
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The editor of the Pine Bluff Commercial earned second place for commentary in a contest organized by America's Newspapers for his coverage of the failings of a city tax initiative that promised civic and economic restoration.—
Grant Lancaster,
Arkansas Online,
7 Nov. 2025
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The price will be closer to $350 (exact costs will vary by dose), although the companies have promised to drop the price over the next two years, administration officials told reporters earlier today.—
Nicholas Florko,
The Atlantic,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
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The credit analyst said August retail sales boded well for the remainder of the bts period, which typicall runs through the end of September.—
Vicki M. Young,
Footwear News,
6 Oct. 2025
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Viral marketing tactics, coupled with strong social media word-of-mouth, boded well for both films’ success, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for the data firm Comscore.—
Itzel Luna,
Chicago Tribune,
10 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune quickly endorsed the deal and called the immediate vote to begin the process of approving it as the shutdown continued to disrupt flights nationwide, threaten food assistance for millions of Americans and leave federal workers without pay.—
Orianna Rosa Royle,
Fortune,
10 Nov. 2025
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The book is called The Care and Keeping of You.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Nov. 2025
Verb
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One of Redford’s last screen roles, which presaged his retirement from acting in 2018, was as the career criminal Forrest Tucker in David Lowery’s The Old Man & the Gun.—
K. Austin Collins,
The Atlantic,
16 Sep. 2025
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Her attraction to coloring books presaged her minimal style.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The minute that happened, Farm Bank’s collapse was foretold.—
Moisés Naím,
Literary Hub,
27 Oct. 2025
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All intermingling is foretold in the extraordinary opening number, which establishes the specific musical and dance motifs associated with each grouping.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
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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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Philosophers once prophesied that evolution would lead to minds far greater — and stranger — than our own.—
Thomas Moynihan,
Big Think,
20 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Portended.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/portended. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
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