portent

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“
Before any member of a certain Queen's Co. family died a looking-glass was broken; while in a branch of that family the portent was the opening and shutting of the avenue gate.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An indication of something important or calamitous about to occur; an omen.
  2. noun Prophetic or threatening significance: signs full of portent.
  3. noun Something amazing or marvelous; a prodigy.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Temur would take it as a portent, just as they did. —  THE YEARS OF RICE AND SALT - Kim Stanley Robinson
  • Yet her portent was so significant it moved him profoundly. —  The Source of Magic
  • Before he could even begin to fathom this portent, a voice arose from around the corner of a crumbled building. —  Witch War
  • Elegant, chic, its very name a portent of what the evening holds. —  EQMM,July2007
  • The iPhone is just a portent, and Cingular could just as easily offer the same Nokia, —  Wi-Fi Networking News
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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

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portent:   portents
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 (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin portentum, from neuter past participle of portendere, to portend; see portend.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Old French portente = Spanish Portuguese Italian portento, from Latin portentum, a sign, token, omen, portent, properly neuter of portentus, past participle of portendere, portend: see portend.
 

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/poʊrˈtɛnt/
by American Heritage

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