portent

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin portentum, participle of portendere, from portendō (“I predict, I foretell”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔːtɛnt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɹtɛnt/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpo(ː)ɹtɛnt/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpoətɛnt/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)tɛnt, -o(ː)ɹtɛnt, -oətɛnt

Noun

portent (plural portents)

1. Something that portends an event about to occur, especially an unfortunate or evil event; an omen.

   It was a portent of things to come.

2. A portending; significance

   a howl of dire portent

3. Something regarded as portentous; a marvel; prodigy.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:omen

Related terms

• portend
• portentous

Translations

omen

• Bulgarian: предзнаменование (bg) n (predznamenovanie), поличба (bg) f (poličba)
• Dutch: voorteken (nl) n, voorspook (nl) n
• Finnish: enne (fi), ennusmerkki (fi)
• German: Omen (de) n, (böses) Vorzeichen n
• Irish: mana (ga) m
• Macedonian: пре́дзнак m (prédznak)
• Maori: inati (usually of misfortune), tiramaka
• Ottoman Turkish: اوغور (uğur) (a favorable one)
• Plautdietsch: Bediedunk f

References

• “portent”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• torpent

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

portent

1. third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of porter

Latin

Verb

portent

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of portō