Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that indicates or foreshadows what is to come; a forerunner.
- v. To signal the approach of; presage.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who provides or secures lodging for another; specifically, a royal officer who rode a day's journey in advance of the court when traveling, to provide lodgings and other accommodations.
- n. One who or that which precedes and gives notice of the coming of some other person or thing; a forerunner; a precursor.
- To precede; act as a harbinger to; serve as an omen or indication of; presage; announce.
Wiktionary
- n. A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.
- v. To announce; to be a harbinger of.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who provides lodgings; especially, the officer of the English royal household who formerly preceded the court when traveling, to provide and prepare lodgings.
- n. A forerunner; a precursor; a messenger.
- v. To usher in; to be a harbinger of.
WordNet 3.0
- n. something that precedes and indicates the approach of something or someone
- v. foreshadow or presage
Etymologies
- Middle English herbengar, person sent ahead to arrange lodgings, from Old French herbergeor, from herbergier, to provide lodging for, from herberge, lodging, of Germanic origin; see koro- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Therefore, the JOLT survey is seen as a near - to mid-term harbinger of future hiring - and two straight months of declines sends a clear signal that joblessness won't be declining.”
“In some ways, they said, the midterms were not as bleak a harbinger as some Democrats fear.”
The Washington Post: 'Soul-searching' Obama aides: Democrats' midterm election losses a wake-up call
“The harbinger is the situation in Mexico, where the cartels are mounting armed attacks on officials, driving them to take repressive measures that are building resentment among ordinary citizens, many of whom are coming to see police and military as more of a threat than the cartelistas.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » If You’re Reading This, You’re Probably a Federal Criminal:
“A harbinger was the first run of fish in the St. Lawrence River.”
“I have to say I've never been called a harbinger before.”
“In what lobbyists are calling a harbinger of possible upheaval on Capitol Hill, many who make a living influencing government have gone from mostly shunning Democrats to aggressively recruiting them as lobbyists over the past six months or so.”
“The harbinger was a 9-for-11 success rate in the first quarter, and though they cooled off from there, the Cougars made it known that they're one of the state's most dangerous teams.”
“Since stocks in the region began their rally in 2009, South Korea's Kospi index has quietly emerged as the so-called harbinger of market trends.”
“In general mysticism, it has been called the harbinger of Enlightnment, which is the second stage.”
“The deal, about a year in the making, is the largest retail transaction the Washington area has seen in the last two years and one that JBGR calls a harbinger of commercial real estate recovery.”
Jacksonville Business News - Local Jacksonville News | Jacksonville Business Journal
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘harbinger’.
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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 4084 more...
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::: I like :::
soliloquy, eros, agape, solipsism, palimpsest, fabulist, lore, raconteur, harbinger, anamnesis, sattvic, comprecation and 20 more...
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Cool sounding words
Stuff that either rolls off the tongue really well or sounds interesting.
suppurate, inveterate, douche, Constantinople, zyzygy, polyglot, serendipitous, vivisection, solypsis, conflagration, instupituous, fecundity and 52 more...
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dameaning's list
negotiable
hegemony
stalagmite
wont
rasp
riddle
somnambulist
librocubicularisttertiary, constancy, acumen, tinder, confluence, insular, partiality, terse, vanguard, avant guard, irrascible, inverse and 27 more...
bilby The fame anon thurgh toun is born
How Alla kyng shal comen on pilgrymage,
By herbergeours that wenten hym biforn
- Geoffrey Chaucer, 'The Man of Law's Tale', 1386.
Rendering in modern English:
The news through all the town was carried,
How King Alla would come on pilgrimage,
By harbingers that went before him. Dec 11, 2008
uselessness I used to think the same thing, then I heard it pronounced and fell in love with it all over again. It's all about the soft "g" as in "HAR bin jer." It's fun on totally different grounds. May 25, 2007
arby I don't care for this word because I always think it should be "harbringer". May 25, 2007