Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To be or give a sign or portent of. See Synonyms at indicate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To signify; mean; denote in words.
- To be a token of; be a visible sign of; give promise of.
- To foreshow by signs; be or furnish a premonition of; indicate the probability of: as, this fact betokens a good result.
- To give evidence of; show.
- Synonyms To signify; presage, portend, augur, bode.
Wiktionary
- v. Signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
- v. Foreshow by present signs; indicate something future by that which is seen or known.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To signify by some visible object; to show by signs or tokens.
- v. To foreshow by present signs; to indicate something future by that which is seen or known.
WordNet 3.0
- v. indicate by signs
- v. be a signal for or a symptom of
Etymologies
- From Middle English bitoknen, bitacnen, from Old English betācnian ("to betoken, signify, designate"), equivalent to be- + token. Cognate with Dutch betekenen ("to mean, signify"), German bezeichnen ("to call, designate"), Swedish beteckna ("to represent, designate, indicate"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English bitoknen : bi-, be- + toknen, to signify (from Old English tācnian; see deik- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The name, the accompaniments, and the child's expression betoken a rare delicacy of conception.”
The Continental Monthly, Vol III, Issue VI, June, 1863 Devoted to Literature and National Policy
“The plan of the city is more or less the geometrically regular one of main and cross-streets running at right angles to each other, and the principal of these are lined with shops, whose windows display luxurious articles of jewellery, clothing, and other effects such as betoken the taste and purchasing power of a wealthy upper class.”
“An alternative form of the Indo-European root, again to do with showing or indicating, is *deig-, which appears in the native English words token, betoken, and that venerable one for pointing students down the best path, teach.”
“In addition to having absolutely beautiful photos and easy-to-follow directions, a lot of the recipes in here betoken memories of my mother and I in the kitchen, rolling lumpia, cursing (okay, not really cursing, but grumbling in frustration at least) at siapao dough not rising, steaming puto, etc.”
“His arms and legs, withered and skinny, betokened extreme age, as well as did their sunburn and scars and scratches betoken long years of exposure to the elements.”
“Does that, once the smiles of victory and defeat have faded, betoken a fresh generation of Labour comradeship?”
“This is a tale of a nervous breakdown that may betoken a mental illness such as psychosis.”
“The Kansas cyclone that whisks Dorothy into a dreamworld is evoked through vorticist projections the work of Jon Driscoll that betoken chaos in the cosmos.”
“Doesn't a high traffic blog or website betoken a popular content creator?”
The Huffington Post: Jonathan Fields: The Truth About Author Platforms
“The fact that the site is closing as a discussion group does not, of course, betoken the end of dogme.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘betoken’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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To a point
to the point
dot, betoken, cusp, nib, neb, nadir, bespeak, eutectic, punctilio, fulcrum, stretch a point, make a point and 69 more...
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Belistful
Tubey or not tubey.
belittle, bedazzle, besiege, besmirch, bespeckle, beget, bemoan, befuddle, befriend, become, besot, becloud and 596 more...
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inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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My GRE words
abase, abate, aberrant, abet, abeyance, abject, abjure, ablution, abnegation, abortive, abrogate, abscission and 140 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
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vocabulary.com
it says that i mastered these words
Assuage, abject, adjure, ancillary, aegis, augur, avocation, betoken, blase, bode, canon, cavort and 79 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (B)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
balcony, bailey, baguette, bairn, balalaika, baldric, balefire, baby's breath, ballet, balm of gilead, balsam, baluster and 188 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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suunflowerss's Words
bakery, crisp, pollywog, crescent, chrysanthemum, aluminum, turquoise, bazooka, crotch rocket, paisley, vermouth, dildo and 107 more...
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GRE 3500 B
baffle, bait, baleful, balk, balm, balmy, bane, bandy, barb, bard, baroque, barrage and 64 more...
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The Basic Kafka
Words gathered while reading The Basic Kafka, a collection of the short fiction, aphorisms, letters, and diary entries of Franz Kafka.
endways, fretwork, dun, manoeuvre, uprush, hale, execrate, ministration, curtaining, conduce, propitiate, greatcoat and 35 more...
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difficult-list6
barrage, bate, bauble, bedizen, bedraggle, begrudge, behoove, beleaguer, belittle, bellicose, belligerent, bemuse and 13 more...
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Interesting Words
verily, womonym, chasmophilia, eschatology, betoken, pornocracy, phatic, antediluvian, parsimonious, crepuscular, quisling, sayonara and 17 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for betoken.
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