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definitions

portend

[pawr-tend, pohr-]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR portend ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to indicate in advance; to foreshadow or presage, as an omen does: The street incident may portend a general uprising.
to signify; mean.

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RELATED WORDS

predict, augur, foretell, presage, bespeak, harbinger, omen, hint, read, prophesy, betoken, adumbrate, forecast, herald, forebode, call, promise, prognosticate, threaten, forewarn

Origin of portend

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin portendere to point out, indicate, portend, variant of prōtendere to extend. See pro-1, tend1
Related formsun·por·tend·ed, adjective
Can be confusedportend pretend (see synonym study at pretend)

Synonyms for portend

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR portend ON THESAURUS.COM
1. foretell, forecast, augur, promise, forebode.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for portend

Contemporary Examples of portend

Historical Examples of portend

  • It was one of those mornings in summer which portend a thunderstorm and great heat.

    The Christian

    Hall Caine

  • What could it portend but that the effects of the poison were passing off and that she was recovering?

    The Shame of Motley

    Raphael Sabatini

  • Atlee watched her, by no means certain what her gesture might portend.

    Lord Kilgobbin

    Charles Lever

  • A plan was devised to find out what this extravagance of candle might portend.

  • What did it portend that Mrs. Stannard should have cut Mr. Gleason dead?

    Marion's Faith.

    Charles King

British Dictionary definitions for portend

portend

verb (tr)

to give warning of; predict or foreshadow
obsolete to indicate or signify; mean

Word Origin for portend

C15: from Latin portendere to indicate, foretell; related to prōtendere to stretch out
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
Word Origin and History for portend
v.

early 15c., from Latin portendere "foretell, reveal; point out, indicate," originally "to stretch forward," from por- (variant of pro-; see pro-) "forth, forward" + tendere "to stretch, extend" (see tenet). Related: Portended; portending.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper