Words / P / General

presage

verb/prɪˈseɪdʒ/

C1CEFR level
65/100Rarity: rare
LiteraryRegister

To foreshadow or give a warning of something about to happen.

The reddening leaves presaged a winter that everyone sensed would be harsh.

Similar: foreshadow, portend

Origin: From Latin praesagium 'foreboding', from prae 'before' and sagire 'to perceive'.

Topic: fate in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: fate