presage

[noun pres-ij; verb pres-ij, pri-seyj]

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noun

a presentiment or foreboding.

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), pres·aged, pres·ag·ing.

to have a presentiment of.

to portend, foreshow, or foreshadow: The incidents may presage war.

to forecast; predict.

verb (used without object), pres·aged, pres·ag·ing.

to make a prediction.

Archaic. to have a presentiment.

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

Related formspres·age·ful, adjectivepres·age·ful·ly, adverbpres·ag·er, nounun·pres·aged, adjectiveun·pres·ag·ing, adjective

Synonyms for presage

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1. foreshadowing, indication, premonition. 2. portent, sign, token.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for presage

signify, foresee, portend, foreshadow, forebode, foretell, augur, auspice, omen, prognostic, apprehension, augury, misgiving, forecast, harbinger, prognostication, intimation, premonition, prophecy, sign

Examples from the Web for presage

Contemporary Examples of presage

From quotes Clinton a lot, and he credits Clinton with saying that an intellectual resurgence has to presage political power.
The Republican Party Needs an RLC
Eleanor Clift
January 10, 2014
But I recall nothing in Possession, Angels & Insects, Babel Tower, or her other books that seems to presage this one.
Must Reads: Wild Abandon, Ramona Ausubel, A.S. Byatt
Nicholas Mancusi, Jennifer Miller, Allen Barra
March 6, 2012

Historical Examples of presage

For a moment there was a pause, as if at a presage of disaster.
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXII No. 4, April 1848
Various
Fatal words they were,—the presage of the mishap they threatened!
Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume II (of II)
Charles James Lever
In the early spring of 1784 Diderot had an attack which he knew to be the presage of the end.
Diderot and the Encyclopdists
John Morley
But the softness in the Christmas air did not presage a thaw.
A Son of the City
Herman Gastrell Seely
Thus she left him without so much as a backward glance to presage future favour.
Simon Dale
Anthony Hope

British Dictionary definitions for presage

presage

noun (ˈprɛsɪdʒ)

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 (ˈprɛsɪdʒ, prɪˈseɪdʒ)

(tr) to have a presentiment of

(tr) to give a forewarning of; portend

(intr) to make a prediction

Derived Formspresageful, adjectivepresagefully, adverbpresager, noun

Word Origin for presage

C14: from Latin praesāgium presentiment, from praesāgīre to perceive beforehand, from sāgīre to perceive acutely

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 presage

late 14c., "something that portends," from Latin praesagium "a foreboding," from praesagire "to perceive beforehand, forebode," from praesagus (adj.) "perceiving beforehand, prophetic," from prae "before" (see pre-) + sagus "prophetic," related to sagire "perceive" (see sagacious).

1560s, from Middle French présager (16c.), from présage "omen," from Latin praesagium (see presage (n.)). Related: Presaged; presaging.