foretoken means A prognostic; a premonitory sign; warning or presentiment. It carries an Arena rating of 1837, earned across 114 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, foretoken ranks #1,588 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,439 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,796 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,968 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words.
Why “foretoken” is a great word
FORETOKEN — [Noun, Verb] A sign or event that serves as a warning or indication of something to come. From Middle English foretokne, from Old English foretācn ("foretoken, presage"), equivalent to fore- ("before") + tācn ("sign, token"). Unlike a "harbinger," which often arrives with a herald's fanfare, or a "prediction," which is a spoken or calculated prophecy, a foretoken is the silent, physical evidence that a future is already writing itself into the present. It is the single magpie at the window, the sudden chill in a sunlit room, or the specific quiet of birds before a storm—the world's oldest and most frugal language, spoken in objects that point only to what has not yet occurred.
Etymology
From Middle English foretokne, fortacne, from Old English foretācn, foretācen (“foretoken, presage, prognostic, prodigy, sign, wonder”), equivalent to fore- + token. Cognate with Dutch voorteken, German Low German Vörteken, German Vorzeichen.
noun
- A prognostic; a premonitory sign; warning or presentiment.
verb
- To betoken beforehand; prognosticate; foreshadow; give warning of; presage.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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