portend

English

WOTD – 27 July 2012

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin portendere (“to foretell”), from por- (“forward”) + tendere (“to stretch”), present active infinitive of tendo.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /pɔːˈtɛnd/
- Audio (UK) (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /pɔɹˈtɛnd/
Rhymes: -ɛnd

Verb

portend (third-person singular simple present portends, present participle portending, simple past and past participle portended)

(transitive) To serve as a warning or omen of.
- 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, page 4:
  A kingdom they portend thee, but what kingdom, / Real or allegoric, I discern not; Nor when: eternal sure--as without end,
(transitive) To signify; to denote.
Let it be known that the Rapture portends the End of Days.
- 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 6 August 2020:
  When the staccato, Neptunes-ian single “Boyfriend” was released in March, musical prognosticators were quick to peg the album it portended, Believe, as Justin Bieber’s Justified, a grown-and-sexy, R&B-centric departure that evolved millennial teenybopper Justin Timberlake into one of the unifying pop-music figures of the aughts.

Synonyms

foreshadow
presage

Related terms

portent
portentive
portentous

Translations

to serve as a warning or omen

Arabic: أَنْذَرَ‎ (ʾanḏara)
Armenian: կանխագուշակել (hy) (kanxagušakel), նախագուշակել (hy) (naxagušakel), գուշակել (hy) (gušakel)
Bulgarian: вещая (bg) (veštaja), предвещавам (bg) (predveštavam)
Czech: hlásat, věstit
Dutch: aankondigen (nl)
Finnish: tietää (fi)
French: annoncer (fr), présager (fr)
German: ankündigen (de), vorbedeuten, vorhersagen (de)
Greek: προμηνύω (el) (prominýo), προαναγγέλω (proanangélo)
Portuguese: pressagiar (pt)
Russian: предвеща́ть (ru) impf (predveščátʹ)
Serbo-Croatian: navijestiti (sh)
Spanish: presagiar (es)
Turkish: önceden belirtmek (tr), önceden haber vermek (tr)

to signify

Armenian: նախանշան լինել (naxanšan linel)
Bulgarian: означавам (bg) (označavam)
Czech: být předzvěstí (varovnou)
Finnish: merkitä (fi)
German: deuten (de), hindeuten (de), hinweisen (de),, bedeuten (de)
Greek: προμηνύω (el) (prominýo), προαναγγέλω (proanangélo)
Russian: предзнамено́вывать (ru) impf (predznamenóvyvatʹ), предзнаменова́ть (ru) pf (predznamenovátʹ)
Serbo-Croatian: naznačiti (sh)
Spanish: significar (es)
Turkish: alâmet olmak, delâlet etmek (tr), (kötüye) işâret olmak

Anagrams

dropnet, protend