PORTEND Synonyms: 33 Similar and Opposite Words

portend

verb

Definition of portend

as in to predict

formal + literary to be a sign or warning that something usually bad or unpleasant is going to happen The distant thunder portended a storm. If you're superstitious, a black cat portends trouble.

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Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of portend That sequence aside, Pulisic's presence energized the American attack and portended well for its next match, according to his teammates. — ABC News, 26 June 2026 This is a delicate and dicey subject to even bring up, since the industry right now is in the grip of multiple perceptions and anxieties about what AI portends for the future of entertainment. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 18 June 2026 For millions of individuals and businesses who rely on professional preparers, the answer portends a frightening prospect if the return preparer is dishonest. — Virginia La Torre Jeker, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026 Multiple companies have slashed tech worker positions in the Bay Area, cutbacks that portend fresh waves of layoffs for the region’s technology sector, according to official filings with the state’s labor agency. — George Avalos, Mercury News, 25 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for portend

Recent Examples of Synonyms for portend

Verb

Susan Del Percio, a New York GOP strategist, predicted the dueling programs would excite the different constituencies of the two leaders.

— Naomi Lim, The Washington Examiner, 3 July 2026
But predicting how things will change decades from now is a more daunting task than embracing a gauzy promise.

— Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, 3 July 2026

Definition of predict

Verb

Matthews works for Florida Shark Diving, one of several shark charter companies in southeast Florida that promise up-close encounters with some of the state’s apex predators.

— Kairi Lowery, Miami Herald, 2 July 2026
This seismic shift, likened to Tom Brady's departure from the Patriots, promises an explosive 2027 season.

— Bruce Martin, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026

Definition of promise

Verb

The company, which calls itself the largest and fastest-growing Asian restaurant company in the world, also added chicken nuggets to its menu on Thursday, July 2.

— Mike Snider, USA Today, 5 July 2026
Mauney, widely seen as the best rider of his generation and someone who braved the hardest bulls to ride, had to retire in 2023 after a neck break on a bull called Arctic Assassin.

— Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 5 July 2026

Definition of call

Verb

Primary victories for leftist candidates endorsed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani foretell bigger battles for a party trying to win back power nationally.

— Karen Tumulty, Washington Post, 24 June 2026
The ink and watercolor Woman Hack Driver (1907), distilling its subject to a mere chassis, likewise foretells his eventual mechanization of human embodiment (and, conversely, his eroticization of machinic apparatuses).

— Ara H. Merjian, ARTnews.com, 5 June 2026

Definition of foretell

Verb

There was no obvious precipitating event, but the encroachment of Grok seemed foreboding.

— Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 14 Mar. 2026
The windowless hallways are narrow in the federal building that houses this immigration court, and the agents’ stocky bodies are foreboding in the tight corridors.

— Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN Money, 1 Dec. 2025