Harbinger

/ˈhɑːbɪndʒə/ · noun

Meaning

A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something..

Definitions by Sense

1. A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.
2. (obsolete) One who provides lodgings; especially, the officer of the English royal household who formerly preceded the court when travelling, to provide and prepare lodgings.
3. (transitive) To announce or precede; to be a harbinger of.

Example Sentences

harbinger of danger; harbinger of doom; harbinger of spring

Make all our Trumpets ſpeak, giue thẽ all breath / Thoſe clamorous Harbingers of Blood, & Death

I knew by these harbingers who were coming.

It’s to realize that Moon Frye, by cheerfully surveilling her own life, and those first Real Worlders, by agreeing to the constant presence of producers and cameras, were the harbingers of today’s culture, in which self-image is shaped in the expectation of a lens and personhood collates with brand identity.

outward decency […] is the Harbinger to provide the lodging for inward holinesse

It was harbingered also by the terrible comet of January, which appeared in a cadent and obscure house, denoting sickness and death; […]

Synonyms for harbinger

Antonyms for harbinger

Related Words

Word Forms

• harbingers
• harbingering
• harbingered

Usage Notes

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