forebode
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to foretell or predict; be an omen of; indicate beforehand; portend.
clouds that forebode a storm.
- Synonyms:
- augur, forecast, presage, foreshadow
-
to have a strong inner feeling or notion of (a future misfortune, evil, catastrophe, etc.); have a presentiment of.
verb (used without object)
-
to prophesy.
-
to have a presentiment.
verb
-
to warn of or indicate (an event, result, etc) in advance
-
to have an intuition or premonition of (an event)
Other Word Forms
- foreboder noun
- unforeboded adjective
Etymology
Origin of forebode
Vocabulary lists containing forebode
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.
During the present year the Irish newspapers reported the discovery of the apparition of a black pig in the district of Kiltrustan… which caused much alarm, and was supposed to forebode some serious national disaster.
From Nature • Dec. 17, 2018
What he had not yet learned was that the market, no matter how fundamentally strong, is always sensitive�not just to one day's happenings in Washington, but to what the events may forebode for the future.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
Whether I shall ever be better I can not tell; I awfully forebode I shall not.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
The leading company rode off as swiftly as they could, for it was still deep dark, whatever change Wídfara might forebode.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
![]()
The police, whenever my mother forebode, would indeed come, and many of the men of the yard would be caught napping, surrendering themselves with lamblike submission.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
![]()
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.