adumbrate
Hint at dimly
Adumbrate means to sketch out or give a faint indication of something, especially something that will be developed or revealed more fully later.
A novelist might adumbrate themes in an opening chapter that become central by the end.
The word also carries the sense of foreshadowing or casting a shadow over: The economic troubles adumbrated the political crisis to come.
It appears almost exclusively in formal or literary contexts.
Indicate beforehand
- portentSign of future calamity
- harbingerOne who foreshadows
- omenProphetic indicator
- precursorSomething that comes first
foretell · prefigure · premonition · augury · herald · foretoken · prognosticate · anticipate
Indirect suggestion
- intimateClosely personal or private
- implyIndicate without stating
- indicateSignal or point to
- insinuateSuggest without directly stating
allude · signify · evoke · touch on · reference · mention · convey · denote
presage
Indicate beforehand
precursor · foretell · prefigure · premonition · augury · herald · foretoken · prognosticate · anticipate · forecast
hint
Indirect suggestion
insinuate · allude · signify · evoke · touch on · reference · mention · convey · denote · connote
shadow
Light blocked by object
- veilFabric that obscures
- overshadowDominate by comparison
- dimLow in light
shroud · eclipse · cloud · darken · conceal · obfuscate · murky · shade · cloak · mask
sketch
Hasty informal drawing
schematic · contour · silhouette · tracing · diagram · profile · framework · schema · layout · rough out
- foretellingpredict, prophesy, foretell, foresee, forecast
- darkening wordsdim, fade, shadow, shade, blacken
- shadowsshadow, cast shadow, drop shadow, silhouette, shade