presage
Americannoun
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a presentiment or foreboding.
- Synonyms:
- premonition, indication
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something that portends or foreshadows a future event; an omen, prognostic, or warning indication.
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prophetic significance; augury.
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foresight; prescience.
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Archaic. a forecast or prediction.
verb (used with object)
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to have a presentiment of.
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to portend, foreshow, or foreshadow.
The incidents may presage war.
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to forecast; predict.
verb (used without object)
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to make a prediction.
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Archaic. to have a presentiment.
noun
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an intimation or warning of something about to happen; portent; omen
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a sense of what is about to happen; foreboding
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archaic a forecast or prediction
verb
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(tr) to have a presentiment of
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(tr) to give a forewarning of; portend
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(intr) to make a prediction
Other Word Forms
- presageful adjective
- presagefully adverb
- presager noun
- unpresaged adjective
- unpresaging adjective
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; sagacious ) + -ium -ium
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.
Crime fiction became more realistic, an approach presaged by Dashiell Hammett and other hard-boiled American writers in the 1920s.
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.
He didn’t stay, but his arrival presaged their comeback.
From Los Angeles Times
He didn’t stay but his arrival presaged their comeback.
From Los Angeles Times
Corporate earnings are growing, and profit margins are stable and often expanding—and that usually presages higher stock prices.
From Barron's
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.
