as in predicting
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 portending
For West, who is a storm chaser, snow in the South would be a rare and sacred gift, one that the weekend storm was portending to produce throughout the region.
—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
28 Jan. 2026
Rams general manager Les Snead sent two first-round picks, two second-round picks and two third-round picks to the Tennessee Titans, portending a swing-for-the-fences mentality in trades that would lead to the Rams going seven years without making another first-round pick.
—
Los Angeles Times,
12 Jan. 2026
The bad omens came early at this year’s Burning Man — the infamously wild, weeklong celebration of art, music, and unrestrained self-expression held at the end of every summer in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert — portending a particularly extra-ordinary burn.
—
Denver Nicks,
Rolling Stone,
14 Sep. 2025
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
28 Jan. 2026
Rams general manager Les Snead sent two first-round picks, two second-round picks and two third-round picks to the Tennessee Titans, portending a swing-for-the-fences mentality in trades that would lead to the Rams going seven years without making another first-round pick.
—
Los Angeles Times,
12 Jan. 2026
The bad omens came early at this year’s Burning Man — the infamously wild, weeklong celebration of art, music, and unrestrained self-expression held at the end of every summer in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert — portending a particularly extra-ordinary burn.
—
Denver Nicks,
Rolling Stone,
14 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for portending
Verb
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In some cases, like in Elk River, local utility companies are predicting positive impacts on utility rates thanks to data centers paying larger bills for services.
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Investors have spent years predicting the demise of expensive technology stocks, housing markets, government bonds, currencies, and entire industries.
Verb
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Opponents of selling artifacts recovered from the wreckage say the company is bound by a 1990s agreement that gave RMS Titanic exclusive salvage rights to the ship in exchange for promising to never sell those items.
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Netflix is promising to take it much further, globally in fact, as the streamer picked the film up out of Cannes and will be shepherding through awards season as well.
Verb
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Yet the book is also about the disappearance of time and places, with summer’s end presaging more permanent losses.
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Andy Cohen was lost to the wormhole, presaging more losses to come.
Verb
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Nearly four-fifths of respondents said that gas prices present some sort of strain, with 34% categorizing it as a major strain and 44% calling it a minor strain.
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In a new report to Congress, the independent National Taxpayer Advocate paints a less flattering picture of the typical taxpayer’s experience in calling the IRS.
Verb
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There was no obvious precipitating event, but the encroachment of Grok seemed foreboding.
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The windowless hallways are narrow in the federal building that houses this immigration court, and the agents’ stocky bodies are foreboding in the tight corridors.
Verb
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Also apparently boding well along the way was a 2021 FIFA site visit here that included group excursions to Arrowhead, Sporting KC’s Compass Minerals National Performance Center, Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence and several potential sites for a fan festival.
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This establishes that hyperscale AI infrastructure is now being built at utility scale, boding well for companies like Broadcom that offer both custom chips and rack-scale networking solutions.
Verb
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But the drama here feels too diagrammatic, foretelling a tragic fate from the first scene onward as everyone parties down like their lives depend on it.
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The Guardian similarly noted more than a dozen $100,000 bets on prediction markets foretelling the February air strikes on Iran, while The New York Times last month reported 150 bets of $1,000 or more predicting the start of the war.
Verb
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Millar, however, noted that a gauge of wholesale costs rose at the fastest pace in more than three years, auguring a further rise in consumer prices.
Cite this Entry
“Portending.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/portending. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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