Definition of "portend"

portend

/pɔːˈtɛnd/

verb
third-person singular simple present portends, present participle portending, simple past and past participle portended
1. (transitive) To serve as a warning or omen of.
  Quotations
  A kingdom they portend thee, but what kingdom, / Real or allegoric, I discern not; Nor when: eternal sure--as without end,
  1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], page 4
2. (transitive) To signify; to denote.
  Quotations
  How alive these poems are with the visual specifics of what he so closely observes, how full of elegance, terror and hope. They portend a poet of major craft, of deep feeling, and of fine intelligence.
  1982 April 10, Jane Barnes, “Terror and Hope”, in Gay Community News, page 10
  When the staccato, Neptunes-ian single “Boyfriend” was released in March, musical prognosticators were quick to peg the album it portended, Believe, as Justin Bieber’s Justified, a grown-and-sexy, R&B-centric departure that evolved millennial teenybopper Justin Timberlake into one of the unifying pop-music figures of the aughts.
  2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 6 August 2020