presage
Americannoun
-
a presentiment or foreboding.
- Synonyms:
- premonition, indication
-
something that portends or foreshadows a future event; an omen, prognostic, or warning indication.
-
prophetic significance; augury.
-
foresight; prescience.
-
Archaic. a forecast or prediction.
verb (used with object)
-
presages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
presaged,
past participle, past
-
presaging
present participle
-
to have a presentiment of.
-
to portend, foreshow, or foreshadow.
The incidents may presage war.
-
to forecast; predict.
verb (used without object)
-
presages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
presaged,
past participle, past
-
presaging
present participle
-
to make a prediction.
-
Archaic. to have a presentiment.
noun
-
an intimation or warning of something about to happen; portent; omen
-
a sense of what is about to happen; foreboding
-
archaic a forecast or prediction
verb
-
(tr) to have a presentiment of
-
(tr) to give a forewarning of; portend
-
(intr) to make a prediction
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
presagesimple
-
presagessimple
-
have presagedperfect
-
has presagedperfect
-
am presagingprogressive
-
are presagingprogressive
-
is presagingprogressive
-
have been presagingperfect progressive
-
has been presagingperfect progressive
Past
-
presagedsimple
-
had presagedperfect
-
was presagingprogressive
-
were presagingprogressive
-
had been presagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of presage
1350–1400; Middle English (noun) < Middle French presage < Latin praesāgium presentiment, forewarning, equivalent to praesāg ( us ) having a foreboding ( prae- pre- + sāgus prophetic; cf. sagacious) + -ium -ium
Explanation
A presage is a sign that something bad is about to happen, like when you get that queasy feeling in your stomach because your mom found out you skipped band practice to go to the movies. Presage, pronounced "PREH-sige," can be a noun or a verb. As a noun, presage is a warning or omen of bad things to come, like a strange quiet and stillness in the air, presage to the coming tornado. As a verb, presage means "to make a prediction or give a warning of what's to come." A terrible end-of-season football game might presage the struggles that the team will face next season.
Vocabulary lists containing presage
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Romeo and Juliet
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act V
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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:
After hearing these songs, the happier ones at the beginning of the album reveal bits of shadow that Rodrigo has built into them to presage what’s to come — to presage what always comes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
If Rosenberg is right and “odds of some policy action or communication to stabilize the yen are rising,” then this could presage a major trading reversal.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 19, 2025
Their book is the first such comprehensive study of HTS and is likely to presage much further research and examination.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2025
The divergence does, however, presage what may happen when the military awards its contracts.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2025
Since it must, they thought, presage the fall of some kingdom, the comet encouraged, in some sense precipitated, the invasion of England by William the Conqueror.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
The top honor at the newly rebranded Actor Awards recognizes the ensemble cast of a film -- a decision that sometimes, but not always, presages Oscars best picture glory.
From Barron's ● Mar. 1, 2026
The rapidly growing rail system is a symbol of India’s modernization, and Charu’s bookish father, a workshop manager, believes in the progress it presages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
But he takes umbrage at the notion that 2023 presages a “new normal.”
From National Geographic ● Sep. 8, 2023
He added that “it presages a lot of aesthetics found during the 2010 indie gamer boom.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2023
O, let my books be then the eloquence and dumb presages of my speaking breast!’”
From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein
But the aborted diplomatic launch capped an already tumultuous two days that presaged the meeting’s collapse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
“Not all high-profile U.S. IPOs have presaged major corrections in the S&P 500,” said John Higgins, chief economic adviser for financial markets at Capital Economics.
From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026
It also accurately presaged a big post-IPO runup in shares of Cerebras once they finally went public in the U.S, according to Coltman.
From MarketWatch ● May 20, 2026
The rise and collapse of the eruption column presaged a series of pyroclastic surges, the fourth of which killed everyone in its path in Pompeii.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
Shreve cried, though Quentin had not spoken: it had been merely some quality, some gathering of Quentin’s still laxed and hunched figure which presaged speech, because Shreve said Wait.
From "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner
Often, a low put-call ratio is a sign that investors are overly ebullient and can thus be seen as a contrarian indicator, presaging a market retreat.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
It was an early example of Americans’ resentment of English tyranny, presaging the anger that would erupt into the Revolutionary War in the next century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 2025
The apocalyptic imagination, he argued, imposes on history “neat, naïve patterns” presaging a turning point in the grand scheme of humanity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2025
Scores were exposed to the virus, presaging potential catastrophe in Africa’s most populous nation.
From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2025
Now the precise outlines of her skull show through the skin of her face, presaging death.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
