portend

present singular third person portends · participle present portending · participle past portended · past portended

1. transitiveTo serve as a warning or omen of.

   A kingdom they portend thee, but what kingdom, / Real or allegoric, I discern not; Nor when: eternal sure--as without end,

   1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 4

2. transitiveTo signify; to denote.

   Let it be known that the Rapture portends the End of Days.

   3 more examples

   How alive these poems are with the visual specifics of what he so closely observes, how full of elegance, terror and hope. They portend a poet of major craft, of deep feeling, and of fine intelligence.

   1982 April 10, Jane Barnes, “Terror and Hope”, in Gay Community News, page 10

   When the staccato, Neptunes-ian single “Boyfriend” was released in March, musical prognosticators were quick to peg the album it portended, Believe, as Justin Bieber’s Justified, a grown-and-sexy, R&B-centric departure that evolved millennial teenybopper Justin Timberlake into one of the unifying pop-music figures of the aughts.

   2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020

   Margo vomits at her waitressing job without realizing what it portends.

   2026 April 23, Sophie Gilbert, “Life Isn’t Easy in the OnlyFans Economy”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC