portend
/pɔːˈtɛnd
/verb [with object]
Be a sign or warning that (something, especially something momentous or calamitous) is likely to happen: the eclipses portend some major events...
- In this issue, our cover story looks at CEOs in danger - and the warning signs that portend trouble.
- But perhaps the dreadful birth defects and mutated plants are not evidence at all, but signs and wonders portending some great event.
- Asian markets had come under heavy selling on Monday as investors portended a calamitous fall in the U.S. markets when they reopened after a four-day suspension.
Synonyms
presage, augur, foreshadow, foretell, prophesy;
be a sign of, be a warning of, warn of, be an omen of, be an indication of, be a harbinger of;
indicate, herald, signal, bode, announce, promise, threaten, point to, mean, signify, spell, denote
literary betoken, foretoken, forebode, harbinger
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin portendere, based on pro- 'forth' + tendere 'stretch'.