Dictionary Workbench Ondict

portend

Dictionary entry view. Switch to definition mode above when you know the meaning but not the word.

portend

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++por·tend /pɔːˈtend $ pɔːr-/ verb [transitive] literary  SOONPREDICTto be a sign that something is going to happen, especially something bad 预示〔尤指不祥之事〕,为的凶兆 strange events that portend disaster 预示着灾难的奇怪事件→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
portendWe need to set the standards now, and prepare for the theological and sociological turbulence this discovery portends.For the cellular industry, this may portend a daunting new world.Rising infection rates portend a health-care disaster.She sees a shooting star and is heartened by whatever hope it might portend, but before long she is crying again.The failure in New York portended even further trouble.What universal debauchery this might portend for our nation!Nature seems to portend no danger and is there to be utilised by Marlowe and his lover almost as a playground.It might portend something more: the beginning of an ideological countertrend.Everyone knew that its sound portended the death of some one in the house within the year.
Origin portend (1400-1500) Latin portendere to stretch forward, from tendere to stretch
por·tend verbChineseSyllable
sign to something is Corpus that a be


portend
portend /pɔːˈtend $ pɔːr-/ verb [transitive] literary
 Date: 1400-1500
 Language: Latin
 Origin: portendere __to stretch forward__, from tendere __to stretch__
to be a sign that something is going to happen, especially something bad:
    strange events that portend disaster


por·tendBrE /pɔːˈtend/ 🔊NAmE /pɔːrˈtend/ 🔊 verbpresent simple - I / you / we / they portend BrE /pɔːˈtend/ 🔊 NAmE /pɔːrˈtend/ 🔊present simple - he / she / it portends BrE /pɔːˈtendz/ 🔊 NAmE /pɔːrˈtendz/ 🔊past simple portended BrE /pɔːˈtendɪd/ 🔊 NAmE /pɔːrˈtendɪd/ 🔊past participle portended BrE /pɔːˈtendɪd/ 🔊 NAmE /pɔːrˈtendɪd/ 🔊 -ing form portending BrE /pɔːˈtendɪŋ/ 🔊 NAmE /pɔːrˈtendɪŋ/ 🔊~ sth (formal) to be a sign or warning of sth that is going to happen in the future, especially sth bad or unpleasant 预兆,预示,预告(尤指坏事) SYN foreshadow