Word of the Day

: February 2, 2019

portend

verb por-TEND

What It Means

1 : to give an omen or anticipatory sign of

2 : indicate, signify

portend in Context

The old saying about a halo around the moon portending rain has some truth to it: the halo is caused by cirrus clouds drifting 20,000 feet or more above the Earth, and high cirrus clouds often precede stormy weather.

"To most people, a shore gas station carrying sushi was but a footnote. But Chris could see that that addition portended a changing demographic." — Rona Kobell, quoted in The Baltimore Sun, 8 Nov. 2018

Did You Know?

Portend has been used in English in the context of signs of things to come since the 15th century. The word derives from the Latin verb portendere, which means "to predict or foretell." That verb, in turn, developed as a combination of the prefix por- (meaning "forward") and the verb tendere (meaning "to stretch"). So you can think of portend as having a literal meaning of "stretching forward to predict." Additional descendants of tendere include extend, tendon, and tension, among others.