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to presage

to presage

5 8.8
To show that something bad will happen
  • verb
  • /ˈprɛsɪdʒ/
  • Literature
translation icon : presagiar
  • The dark clouds in the sky seem to presage a heavy storm later today.
  • presage the demise
  • presage a change
  • presages the key role

He he presages the discovery of the laser.

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Examples

  • So your facility with doing that may presage a bit of the results.

  • The primary significance of this was thought to be that it presaged extraordinary adult achievement across fields of endeavor.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Above all, the lives of those one knew have taken turns that must presage something big around the corner.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • The move into Hong Kong could presage a move against Taiwan.

  • Flat profits, an expensive lease, and partner disputes presage the end.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Does publicly lining up the Christians with the army presage further problems between the faiths?

    Blog text (26)
  • Without question, the conquest of the Khanate was presaged by a series of polemical attacks against Islam.

    Academic text (2007)
  • Franco's demise in 1975 presaged a new vision of a democratic and diverse Spain.

    Academic text (2003)
  • I felt a tingle crawl up my spine, a sense of imminence presaging the close presence of some peculiar event.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Tightening global oil supplies and voraciously rising demand presage a future of cutthroat mercantilist competition among the great powers.

    Academic text (2009)

Synonyms

to predict
vsto presage
812 3.0

To say what will happen in the future

is more a warning sign or omen than a direct future statement
to forecast
vsto presage
54 2.5

To say what will probably happen using information, for example about weather or business

is more the role of a natural sign than an analytical estimate
to foretell
vsto presage
41 7.0

To say what will happen in the future

is mainly a sign or omen rather than a spoken prediction
to foreshadow
vsto presage
16 6.2

To give a small sign that something will happen in the future

is mainly a sign or omen rather than an explicit prediction
to bode
vsto presage
16 7.2

To be a sign that something good or bad will happen

is more a warning sign than a general omen
to portend
vsto presage
  • Formal
13 8.4

To show that something, often bad, will probably happen

is broader and not limited to momentous or calamitous events
to anticipate
vsto presage
7 5.8

To happen earlier and show what will come later

is more a warning sign than merely occurring earlier
to augur
vsto presage
4 8.6

To be a sign that something will happen

is focused on being a sign rather than declaring future facts
to prognosticate
vsto presage
  • Formal
3 9.3

To say what will happen in the future using clues

is more about being an omen or warning than systematic prediction
to betoken
vsto presage
  • Archaic
1 9.3

To be a sign of something

is more a warning or omen than a neutral sign
to prefigure
vsto presage
  • Literature
1 8.0

To be a sign that something will happen later

is more about being an omen or warning than mere representation
to auspicate
vsto presage
  • Archaic
9.9

To say what will happen by reading signs

is mainly a natural sign or warning, not a formal prediction
to forebode
vsto presage
8.4

To seem to show that something bad will happen

is more neutral and covers signs or warnings not only bad events
to foreshow
vsto presage
  • Archaic
9.9

Predict an event from a sign or dream

is more about being a visible sign than a prophetic revelation
to previse
vsto presage
  • Archaic
9.9

To know something before it happens

is more a visible sign or omen than an internal foresight
to vaticinate
vsto presage
  • Archaic
9.9

To say what will happen in the future because someone has spiritual power

is less about prophecy and more about being a warning sign

How Ominous

to portend
  • Formal
13 8.4
to presage
  • Literature
5 8.8
to foreshadow
16 6.2
to indicate
834 2.7
to hint
136 2.0

Surface Forms

presage infinitive
presaged past
presaged past participle
presaging present participle
presages third person singular

Etymology

The verb presage comes from the same Latin parts prae- 'before' and sagire 'to feel or know', so to presage something is to give a sign or warning that it will happen soon.