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.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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.
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
-
Many traders see China’s eventual return to pre-Iran war oil purchasing rates as the key to predicting when oil prices finally lurch higher.—
Devika Krishna Kumar,
Fortune,
6 June 2026
-
Perhaps granting the nation some reprieve, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has projected a below-average hurricane season, predicting eight to 14 named storms.—
Mallory Wilson,
The Hill,
4 June 2026
Verb
-
Instead, voters have increasingly turned to candidates promising heavy-handed security crackdowns.—
Megan Janetsky,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
-
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is promising a replacement ordinance for the conversion therapy ban the City Council recently repealed.—
Dylan Lysen,
Kansas City Star,
1 June 2026
Verb
-
Andy Cohen was lost to the wormhole, presaging more losses to come.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
22 May 2026
-
Since 2022, Russia has dropped thousands of mines across the Black Sea, presaging Iran's Hormuz blockade by using underwater explosives to deter vessels from docking in Ukraine's Black Sea ports.—
Aidan Stretch,
CBS News,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Karmelo Anthony Pat Lopez The prosecution rested after calling 21 witnesses.—
Dawn White,
CBS News,
7 June 2026
-
Jamison first began calling square dances 50 years ago and has been based in the Asheville area since 1980.—
Arati Menon,
Condé Nast Traveler,
7 June 2026
Verb
-
There was no obvious precipitating event, but the encroachment of Grok seemed foreboding.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
New Yorker,
14 Mar. 2026
-
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.—
Catherine E. Shoichet,
CNN Money,
1 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
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.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
15 May 2026
-
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.—
TipRanks.com Staff,
CNBC,
19 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
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.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
22 May 2026
-
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.—
Tom Chivers,
semafor.com,
21 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
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.—
Paul Davidson,
USA Today,
22 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Portending.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/portending. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
