portent
noun
[ ˈpɔːtɛnt ]
• a sign or warning that a momentous or calamitous event is likely to happen.
• "many birds are regarded as being portents of death"
Similar:
omen,
sign,
indication,
presage,
warning,
forewarning,
harbinger,
augury,
signal,
promise,
threat,
menace,
ill omen,
forecast,
prediction,
prognostication,
prophecy,
straw in the wind,
writing on the wall,
hint,
auspice,
premonition,
presentiment,
feeling,
vague feeling,
funny feeling,
feeling in one's bones,
foreboding,
misgiving,
foretoken,
• an exceptional or wonderful person or thing.
• "what portent can be greater than a pious notary?"
Origin:
late 16th century: from Latin portentum ‘omen, token’, from the verb portendere (see portend).
