1. a sign or warning that something momentous or calamitous is likely to happen
Usage: formal

Examples

• The dark clouds gathering on the horizon seemed like a portent of the storm to come.
• Many viewed the economic indicators as a portent of recession.
• The ancient Romans believed that eclipses were portents of disaster.
• The sudden silence of the birds was considered a portent by the villagers.
• She dismissed the broken mirror as mere superstition, not a portent of bad luck.
• The prophet spoke of strange portents that would herald the end times.