Word.ws English Dictionary

presage

Syllables: pre·sage/ˈpɹɛsɪdʒ/

presage noun: a warning of a future event; an omen.

Noun

presage (plural presages)

  1. A warning of a future event; an omen.
    • Speak frankly, Mirzes—nor believe thy words, / Whatever black preſages they contain, / Subjoin'd to all Trophonius hath foretold, / Can change my firm reſolves, or blunt my ſword.a. 1786, [Richard Glover], “Book the Twenty-eighth”, in [Mrs. Halsey], editor, The Athenaid, a Poem, […], volume III, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], published 1787, →OCLC, page 213, lines 354–357
  2. An intuition of a future event; a presentiment.
    • Glad was I when I reached the other bank. / Now for a better country. Vain presage!1855, Robert Browning, “‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.’”, in Men and Women […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, stanza 22, page 143

Verb

presage (third-person singular simple present presages, present participle presaging, simple past and past participle presaged)

  1. (transitive) To predict or foretell something.
    • If I may truſt the flattering truth of ſleepe, / My dreames preſage ſome ioyfull newes at hand : / My boſomes L. ſits lightly in his throne : / And all this day an vnaccuſtom’d ſpirit, / Lifts me aboue the ground with cheatfull thoughts […](Q2 version)
    • That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past.2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a second term, Obama will confront familiar headwinds”, in The New York Times
  2. (intransitive) To make a prediction.
  3. (transitive) To have a presentiment of; to feel beforehand; to foreknow.

presage meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

presage in Tamil

முன்னறிகுறி, முன்னறிந்துகூறும் நிமித்தம், குறி, சகுனம், அறிகுறி, முன்னிகழ்வு

presage in Urdu

فال, شگون

presage in Bengali

a presage, a foreword, a foreboding
অগ্রসূচনা ôgrôśucôna

presage in Malayalam

മുന്നടയാളം, നിമിത്തം
More languagesFewer languages
presage in Kannada
ಮುನ್ನೊರೆ, ಮುನ್ನುಡಿ, ಎಚ್ಚರಿಸು, ಮುನ್ನಳುಕಿರು

Synonyms of presage

Forms of presage

Noun
pluralpresages
alternative form (obsolete)præsage
Verb
third-person singular presentpresages
present participlepresaging
past participlepresaged
pastpresaged

Origin of presage

From Middle English presage, from Latin praesāgium.

Words formed from presage

Words that rhyme with presage

Questions about presage

What does presage mean?
Presage means a warning of a future event; an omen.
What is presage in Tamil?
Presage in Tamil is முன்னறிகுறி, முன்னறிந்துகூறும் நிமித்தம், குறி. See Presage meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is presage?
Presage can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce presage?
Presage is pronounced /ˈpɹɛsɪdʒ/ (UK).
What is the plural of presage?
The plural of presage is presages.

Words near presage in the dictionary

  1. presaccadically
  2. presacral
  3. presacrals
  4. presacrifice
  5. presacrificial
  6. presage
  7. presaged
  8. presageful
  9. presagement
  10. presagements
  11. presager

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: presage (page history and authors); presage (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); presage (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); অগ্রসূচনা (Bengali) (page history and authors); presage (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); presage (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.

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Cite this entry: “presage.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/presage. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.