harbinger

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The word serves as a harbinger, a visible indicator of the drastic changes that have and will continue to transform the arts at Harvard.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun One that indicates or foreshadows what is to come; a forerunner.
  2. transitive verb To signal the approach of; presage.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • He was used to being the harbinger, at best of ill news, at worst of disaster. —  Shroud for a Nightingale
  • Indeed, the international financial market is portraying China's perceived recovery as a harbinger for global recovery. —  China Stocks News and Analysis from Seeking Alpha
  • In practice, though, it often seems that their deepest passions lie elsewhere: in the shimmering ideal of the public school as the harbinger of a truly just society, the 1968-ers 'utopia in an educational guise. —  The Australian | News |
  • Why, the very name will be considered as a harbinger of good fortune. —  The Children of the New Forest
  • Kinesasis, who had been on the lookout, at length reported the morning star, just visible as the harbinger of dawn. —  Winter Adventures of Three Boys
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

harley ·  presentiment ·  forerunner ·  portent ·  embodiment ·  omen ·  bringer ·  imminence ·  brink ·  cusp
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. 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.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also harbenger (the n inserted as in passenger, messenger, porringer, etc.), earlier harbegier, harbesher (in which an orig. r has been lost from the second syllable), from (a) Middle English herbergeour, herberjour, herbarjour, etc., from Old French herbergeor, herbergeour, albergeur (= Spanish Portuguese albergador = Italian albergatore), one who provides or secures lodging or harborage; (b) Middle English also herberger, herborgere, from Old French herbegier, in same sense; from herbergier, harbor, lodge: see harborough, harbor, v.
  2. from harbinger, n.
 

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/ˈhɑrbɪndʒər/
by American Heritage

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