betoken
/bɪˈtoʊ.kən/
betoken verb: to signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
Verb
betoken (third-person singular simple present betokens, present participle betokening, simple past and past participle betokened)
- To signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
- There be other 2 signes in often use of which the first is made thus + and betokeneth more : the other is thus made – and betokeneth lesse.1557: Robert Recorde, The whetstone of witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmetike : containyng the xtraction of Rootes : The Cossike practise, with the rule of Equation : and the workes of...
- During the fight, we ran forward a few paces, but a heavy, rushing flight betokened an easy victory, and the stranger flew away.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 87
- To foreshow by present signs; indicate something in the future by that which is seen or known.
- “ Ah ! hospitable land, thou (nevertheless) betokenest war,” i. e., although hospitable, thou nevertheless betokenest war. — Bello.1853: Virgil, Charles Anthon, LL.D. [tr.], Æneïd of Virgil: With English Notes, Critical and Explanatory, a Metrical Clavis: And an Historical, Geographical, and Mythological Index, page 474 (Harper...
- Since the Report was published there has been a rather unnatural absence of follow-up propaganda for the Liner trains, which seems to betoken a disinclination to embark on the heavy expenditure involved until a long-term patronage of the projected services has been assured.1963 July, “News and Comment: Second thoughts on Liner trains?”, in Modern Railways, page 5
betoken meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada
betoken in Tamil
- குறித்துக்காட்டு, முன்னறிவி
betoken in Malayalam
- be a sign of, indicate, be evidence of
- മുന്നറിയിക്കുക, മുന്നറിയിപ്പായിരിക്കുക, സൂചിപ്പിക്കുക, സൂചന നൽകുക, തെളിവായിരിക്കുക, അടയാളമായിരിക്കുക
- signal, foretell, give notice of
- അടയാളംകാട്ടി അറിയിക്കുക, പ്രവചിക്കുക, മുൻകൂട്ടിപറയുക, ലക്ഷണം ആകുക, ശകുനമാകുക, ശകുനം കാണിക്കുക
betoken in Kannada
- ಮುಂದೋರು
Examples of betoken in a sentence
- The new propaganda for the route, modest though it is in content and extent so far, does seem to betoken a BR effort to improve its carryings and save the service from extinction.1964 July, “News and Comment: The Broad Street-Richmond line”, in Modern Railways, page 17:
- This final star betokens the rank of ultimate wizard.”2010 May 10, Bert Youn, Pete Browngardt, & Adam Muto, “Wizard” (3:19 from the start), in Adventure Time, season 1, episode 11, spoken by...
Synonyms of betoken
Forms of betoken
| third-person singular present | betokens |
|---|---|
| present participle | betokening |
| past participle | betokened |
| past | betokened |
Origin of betoken
From Middle English bitoknen, bitacnen, from Old English betācnian (“to betoken, signify, designate”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitaiknijan. Equivalent to be- + token. Cognate with Dutch betekenen (“to mean, signify”), German bezeichnen (“to call, designate”), Swedish beteckna (“to represent, designate, indicate”) and Danish betegne (“to represent, designate, indicate”).
Words formed from betoken
Words that rhyme with betoken
Questions about betoken
- What does betoken mean?
- Betoken means to signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
- What is betoken in Tamil?
- Betoken in Tamil is குறித்துக்காட்டு, முன்னறிவி. See Betoken meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use betoken in a sentence?
- The new propaganda for the route, modest though it is in content and extent so far, does seem to betoken a BR effort to improve its carryings and save the service from extinction.
- What part of speech is betoken?
- Betoken is a verb.
- How do you pronounce betoken?
- Betoken is pronounced /bɪˈtoʊ.kən/.
- What is the past tense of betoken?
- The past tense of betoken is betokened.
Words near betoken in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: betoken (page history and authors); betoken (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); betoken (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); betoken (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-betoken.ogg, En-us-betoken.ogg.
Cite this entry: “betoken.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/betoken. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.