herald

[her-uhld]

noun

1. (formerly) a royal or official messenger, especially one representing a monarch in an ambassadorial capacity during wartime.

2. a person or thing that precedes or comes before; forerunner; harbinger.

   the returning swallows, those heralds of spring.

3. a person or thing that proclaims or announces.

   A good newspaper should be a herald of truth.

4. (in the Middle Ages) an officer who arranged tournaments and other functions, announced challenges, marshaled combatants, etc., and who was later employed also to arrange processions, funerals, etc., and to regulate the use of armorial bearings.

5. an official intermediate in rank between a king-of-arms and a pursuivant, in the Heralds' College in England or the Heralds' Office in Scotland.

verb (used with object)

1. to give news or tidings of; announce; proclaim.

   a publicity campaign to herald a new film.

2. to indicate or signal the coming of; usher in.

   Synonyms: tout, ballyhoo, publicize

herald

/ ˈhɛrəld /

noun

1. 1. a person who announces important news

   2. ( as modifier )

      herald angels

2. literary,  a forerunner; harbinger

3. the intermediate rank of heraldic officer, between king-of-arms and pursuivant

4. (in the Middle Ages) an official at a tournament

verb

1. to announce publicly

2. to precede or usher in

Word History and Origins

Origin of herald¹

1300–50; Middle English herau ( l ) d < Old French herau ( l ) t < Frankish *heriwald, equivalent to *heri army + *wald commander ( wield ). Compare name Harold

Word History and Origins

Origin of herald¹

C14: from Old French herault, of Germanic origin; compare Old English here war; see _wield

Example Sentences

Some in the business community will interpret this as possibly heralding another higher-than-inflation rise in the national living wage, which also tends to push up other salaries in a firm's wage structure.

Read more on BBC

The head of the World Resources Institute, Ani Dasgupta, heralded COP30 for delivering "breakthroughs to triple adaptation finance, protect the world's forests and elevate the voices of Indigenous people like never before."

Read more on Barron's

Put another way, an internal company executive profile heralded Matthews and other senior women as “the women behind the bro brand.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He ludicrously heralded the deal as an example of his “get stuff done” motto.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

An emergency hike, heralding a policy reversal, would prompt a major repatriation of Japanese savings.

Read more on MarketWatch