betoken
Americanverb (used with object)
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betokens,
present (3rd person singular)
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betokened,
past participle, past
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betokening
present participle
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to give evidence of; indicate.
to betoken one's fidelity with a vow; a kiss that betokens one's affection.
-
to be or give a token or sign of; portend.
a thunderclap that betokens foul weather; an angry word that betokens hostility.
verb
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to indicate; signify
black clothes betoken mourning
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to portend; augur
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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betokensimple
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betokenssimple
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have betokenedperfect
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has betokenedperfect
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am betokeningprogressive
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are betokeningprogressive
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is betokeningprogressive
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have been betokeningperfect progressive
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has been betokeningperfect progressive
Past
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betokenedsimple
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had betokenedperfect
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was betokeningprogressive
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were betokeningprogressive
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had been betokeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of betoken
First recorded in 1125–75, betoken is from the Middle English word bitocnen, bitacnen. See be-, token
Explanation
A dark sky full of clouds might betoken a thunderstorm. In other words, the clouds indicate or point to the fact that a thunderstorm is on its way. You're most likely to come across the word betoken in an English class or a book, since it's primarily a literary word used to express the idea of signifying or symbolizing something. There's often a sense of mystery around the word; for example, a black cat might betoken bad luck, or be an omen of something slightly scary. However, there are plenty of cheerful examples, like when a ring betokens love.
Vocabulary lists containing betoken
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The SpaceX IPO had some peculiarities that have made the stock especially volatile, and betoken more volatility ahead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
This “Cyrano” centers the freedom that new forms of drama betoken, and all the ways that the writing of the past can feed them — from Rostand to Emily Dickinson.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2022
But it doesn’t betoken a path to profitability, in part because the improvement reflected an intensified squeeze on drivers.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 10, 2019
Banks employ armies of people in back offices, looking for discrepancies that may betoken fraud or honest error.
From Economist ● Mar. 22, 2018
The tears were caused by the pleased surprise; the moans at her having come home on a Friday, for that must surely betoken ill-luck.
From The Story of Charles Strange Vol. 1 (of 3) A Novel by Mrs. Henry Wood
As in the case of Baker’s work, Akhtar’s Pulitzer recognition betokens a voice wholly deserving of a wider audience.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 4, 2016
And there is Sicilia himself, a compelling figure: worn but not weary, soft-spoken in a way that betokens strength.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2015
“That man betokens such a level of ignorance and a direct falsification of the existing scientific data,” Brown told host Chuck Todd.
From US News ● Mar. 23, 2015
Not just denies: “That man betokens such a level of ignorance and a direct falsification of scientific data,” Brown said Sunday during an appearance on Meet the Press.
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2015
Researchers have often wondered whether the Inka collapse betokens a major historical lesson.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
And yet, even that everydayness betokened a complex reality.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 2, 2020
Nominated plays such as Heidi Schreck’s “What the Constitution Means to Me” and Taylor Mac’s “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus” betokened the emergence of singular off-Broadway talents as major Broadway players.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 6, 2019
“But even that’s a cliché, you know. And then you’ve got ‘the sun peeped through the foliage’ and ‘the ominous black clouds that betokened thunder’—betokened, right?
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 10, 2016
I think Obama really betokened a new day in America.
From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2016
Her face plainly betokened the dislike she had avowed to the cold, searching eyes now resting upon her.
From Fickle Fortune by Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
Set designer Donald Eastman places the action in an airy courtyard of broken concrete slabs — the cracks in the cement betokening the fissures that will symbolically swallow up Floyd.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 10, 2021
Steven Soderbergh is an executive producer, betokening prestige and meaning that his name is linked with the title in every press report.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2017
These days, you might well think, to have your house blurred from Google Street View is the new status symbol, a must-have digital absence betokening your big-ass presence in the world of celebrity.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 14, 2014
His instrument for this was color, betokening light.
From Time Magazine Archive
With a stationary or declining population, exposed to the assaults of powerful external foes, and racked by internal pains betokening the demise of the mediæval order, white Europe’s future appeared a far from happy one.
From The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy by Lothrop Stoddard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
