Definition

1. Verb:
   • To predict or foretell, especially something ominous or negative: To have a strong inner feeling or premonition that something bad or unfortunate will happen in the future.
   • To be a warning or sign of a future event: To serve as an omen or indication of something to come, typically something unpleasant.

Usage and Examples

• Verb:
  • The dark clouds and sudden silence seemed to forebode a terrible storm. (The atmospheric conditions served as a warning sign of the approaching storm.)
  • Her recurring dream foreboded great change, though she didn't know if it was for good or ill. (Her dream predicted a significant future change.)
  • The old sailor claimed he could forebode the weather by the ache in his bones. (He claimed to predict the weather based on a physical sensation.)

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• "to forebode ill/evil": To predict or be a sign of misfortune or bad outcomes.
  • The strange alignment of the planets was said to forebode ill for the kingdom.
• The word often carries a connotation of anxiety or dread about the predicted event. It is less commonly used for neutral or positive predictions.
• It can be used both transitively (e.g., ) and intransitively (e.g., ).

Variants and Related Words

• Foreboding (n/adj): (Noun) A strong feeling that something bad is going to happen; (Adjective) implying or suggesting that something bad is going to happen.
  • She felt a sense of foreboding as she entered the empty house. (Noun)
  • The foreboding music created tension in the film. (Adjective)
• Foreboder (n): (Rare) A person who or thing that forebodes.

Synonyms

• Predict: To say that an event or action will happen in the future.
• Foretell: To tell of or indicate beforehand; prophesy.
• Portend: To be a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen.
• Augur: To portend a good or bad outcome.
• Presage: To be a sign or warning of a future event.

Antonyms

• Recall: To remember or bring back to mind a past event.
• Reassure: To say or do something to remove someone's doubts or fears.

Idioms and Phrases

• While "forebode" itself is not commonly used in fixed idioms, the related noun "foreboding" is frequently used in the phrase "a sense/feeling of foreboding."
  • A feeling of foreboding hung over the city as the enemy forces approached.

Verb

1. make a prediction about; tell in advance
   • Call the outcome of an election