bode
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to be an omen of; portend.
The news bodes evil days for him.
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Archaic. to announce beforehand; predict.
verb (used without object)
verb
verb
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to be an omen of (good or ill, esp of ill); portend; presage
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archaic (tr) to predict; foretell
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bode
before 1000; Middle English boden, Old English bodian to announce, foretell (cognate with Old Norse botha ), derivative of boda messenger, cognate with German Bote, Old Norse bothi
Explanation
The verb bode suggests forecasting. Something bodes well when the clues or signs imply a favorable outcome. But if something bodes ill, you’d better watch out! Something might bode good fortune, or it could bode disaster. The word, which can be traced back to the Old English bodian, "to announce, foretell," is also found in the adjective foreboding, which means "ominous, boding ill."
Vocabulary lists containing bode
Romeo and Juliet
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Othello
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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 Irish bank’s beat and 2026 guidance raise bode well for 2027 net interest income, which is likely to be helped by further rate rises and balance sheet growth, the analyst says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
The slight gap between the two candidates doesn’t bode well for Bass, since Raman is expected to secure a larger portion of the late-arriving ballots in the coming days.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
That’s usually a sign of a lack of enthusiasm, and it doesn’t bode well for Tuesday’s results.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026
Analysts said that does not bode well for bilateral relations.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
Thyon’s response didn't bode well, in its broader context—about mesarthium not being reactive with anything.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
All of that boded badly for high-flying names like Sandisk and Micron, as some of 2026’s biggest winners became this selloff’s big losers.
From Barron's ● Mar. 3, 2026
The images boded ill for Mountain High, but as the night wore on, the resort’s fate remained a mystery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2024
Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Amazon's ramp-up in seasonal hires boded well for consumer discretionary spending, to a point.
From Reuters ● Oct. 26, 2023
“The shift towards normality after the pandemic has overall boded well for global livability in 2023,” said Upasana Dutt, head of the livability index at EIU.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
The Prime Minister had seen that kind of look in politicians before, and it never boded well.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
He also sees DSV’s faster-than-expected integration of DB Schenker as boding well for CargoWise, with the additional volumes supporting his expectation of a 2H skew to WiseTech’s results.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
They also combing the Mediterranean off Derna, searching for boding swept away in the floods.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 25, 2023
A simplified prototype of the experiment that operates at room temperature is already remarkably sensitive, boding well for the final Archimedes apparatus's performance.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 29, 2023
A recent spike in mosquito-borne diseases — such as dengue fever and malaria — has underscored the fragility of the African country’s health system, boding ill for future challenges driven by climate change.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 9, 2023
A boding of ill we thought it, my father and I, for no tidings had we heard of Boromir since he went away, and no watcher on our borders had seen him pass.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
