[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/portend/)

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# portend

verb (portend, portends, portended, portending) — formal

«portend» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (formal) To be a sign or warning that something important, often bad, is going to happen: «Dark clouds portend a storm.» [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/portend/#m1)
2. (formal) To mean or point to something in the future. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/portend/#m2)

### In the lessons

It is a stiff, bookish word for «be a sign of». In stories and old tales it tells the reader that trouble is coming — a black cat, a comet, a strange silence «portends» disaster. In science lessons we say the signs «suggest» rather than «portend». Phrases: «portend trouble», «portend disaster», «portend change».

### Examples

- The howling wind seemed to portend a terrible night. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/portend/#x1)
- In old stories a comet in the sky portended war. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/portend/#x2)
- Falling sales may portend hard times for the shop. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/portend/#x3)
- The sudden quiet in the forest portended danger. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/portend/#x4)
- People once believed that a red sky portended bad weather. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/portend/#x5)
- Nobody knew what the strange letter portended. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/portend/#x6)
- I ordered you to be put to death because I thought your dream portended the loss of my crown. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/portend/#x7)

### Note

Formal and literary; in everyday talk say «be a sign of» or «mean». Noun: portent (a sign of the future); adjective: portentous. Many «omens» in stories are superstitions, not science: a black cat does not really portend bad luck.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «portend» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/portend/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«portend» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/portend.html) on Mova free.