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Synonyms

forebode

American  
[fawr-bohd, fohr-] / fɔrˈboʊd, foʊr- /

verb (used with object)

foreboded, foreboding
  1. to foretell or predict; be an omen of; indicate beforehand; portend.

    clouds that forebode a storm.

    Synonyms:
    augur, forecast, presage, foreshadow
  2. to have a strong inner feeling or notion of (a future misfortune, evil, catastrophe, etc.); have a presentiment of.


verb (used without object)

foreboded, foreboding
  1. to prophesy.

  2. to have a presentiment.

forebode British  
/ fɔːˈbəʊd /

verb

  1. to warn of or indicate (an event, result, etc) in advance

  2. to have an intuition or premonition of (an event)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • foreboder noun
  • unforeboded adjective

Etymology

Origin of forebode

First recorded in 1595–1605; fore- + bode 1

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