harbinger
Sign of coming
A harbinger is something that signals or foreshadows what is to come, typically something significant.
The word often carries a sense of foreboding: Dark clouds were a harbinger of the storm ahead.
Harbingers can be positive too, as when crocuses are called harbingers of spring.
Originally a harbinger was a person sent ahead to arrange lodgings for travelers, which explains the modern sense of something that precedes and announces an arrival.
Indicate beforehand
- portentSign of future calamity
- auguryOmen interpretation practice
- foreshadowingHinting at later events
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
premonition · warning · sign · prophecy · oracle · divination · auspice · prognostication
One that comes before
- heraldOfficial news announcer
- predecessorOne who came first
- antecedentSomething that precedes
- preludeIntroductory piece or event
vanguard · pioneer · trailblazer · pathfinder · advance guard · leading edge · avant-garde · bellwether
Official news announcer
- announcerOne who introduces programs
- crierPublic announcement maker
- proclaimerOne who announces publicly
- bearerOne who conveys something
envoy · emissary · courier · town crier · trumpeter · advance man
Small orange-breasted thrush
- groundhogNorth American burrowing marmot
- crocusSmall spring bulb flower
- swallowSend down the throat
- first frostSeason's earliest freeze
cherry blossom · spring peeper · budding trees · melting snow · autumn leaves
presage
Indicate beforehand
- portentSign of future calamity
- auguryOmen interpretation practice
- foreshadowingHinting at later events
foreboding · premonition · warning · sign · prophecy · oracle · divination · auspice · prognostication · foretelling
forerunner
One that comes before
- heraldOfficial news announcer
- predecessorOne who came first
- antecedentSomething that precedes
prelude · vanguard · pioneer · trailblazer · pathfinder · advance guard · leading edge · avant-garde · bellwether · trendsetter
herald
Official news announcer
- announcerOne who introduces programs
- crierPublic announcement maker
- proclaimerOne who announces publicly
bearer · envoy · emissary · courier · town crier · trumpeter · advance man
robin
Small orange-breasted thrush
first frost · cherry blossom · spring peeper · budding trees · melting snow · autumn leaves
- fortunelucky, luck, fortune, fate, destiny
- omensomens, omen, portent, portents, signs
- SAT vocabularyaesthetic, ambiguous, benevolent, candid, concise
- Pioneerspioneer, pioneers, forerunner, trailblazer, innovator
- trendsetterstrendsetter, trendsetters, influencer, fashionistas, style icons
- death omensbanshee, death knell, death rattle, Grim Reaper, corpse candle
harbingeraftermath
Results following an event
aftereffect · consequence · result · sequel · culmination
harbingerconclusion
End or deduction
finale · ending · culmination · denouement · coda