different between forebode vs betoken

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f???b??d/

Etymology

From Middle English foreboden, from Old English forebodian, equivalent to fore- +? bode.

Alternative forms

• forbode (much less commonly used)

Verb

forebode (third-person singular simple present forebodes, present participle foreboding, simple past and past participle foreboded)

1. To predict a future event; to hint at something that will happen (especially as a literary device).

   • There can be, if I forebode aright, no power, short of the Divine mercy, to disclose, whether by uttered words, or by type or emblem, the secrets that may be buried with a human heart.

2. To be prescient of (some ill or misfortune); to have an inward conviction of, as of a calamity which is about to happen; to augur despondingly.
   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, The Two Voices

     His heart forebodes a mystery.

   • 1741, Conyers Middleton, Life of Cicero

     Sullen, desponding, and foreboding nothing but wars and desolation, as the certain consequence of Caesar's death.

Synonyms

• (to portend or foretell): foretell, portend, predict

Derived terms

• forebodement
• foreboder

Translations

Noun

forebode

1. (obsolete) prognostication; presage

See also

• bode

References

• forebode at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

From Middle English bitoknen, bitacnen, from Old English bet?cnian (“to betoken, signify, designate”). Equivalent to be- +? token. Cognate with Dutch betekenen (“to mean, signify”), German bezeichnen (“to call, designate”), Swedish beteckna (“to represent, designate, indicate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b??to?.k?n/
• Rhymes: -??k?n

Verb

betoken (third-person singular simple present betokens, present participle betokening, simple past and past participle betokened)

1. (transitive) To signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
   • 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 Surde Nombers.^?, page unknown (Ihon Kyngstone)

     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.
2. (transitive) To foreshow by present signs; indicate something future by that which is seen or known.
   • 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 & Brothers, 329 & 331 Pearl Street, Franklin Square, New York)

     “?Ah?!?hospitable land, thou (nevertheless) betokenest war,” i.?e., although hospitable, thou nevertheless betokenest war.?—?Bello.

Synonyms

• (signify): indicate, mark, note
• (foreshow): portend, presage, forebode

Translations

References

• betoken in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.