harbingers

Those signaling change

Harbingers are things that signal what's coming—advance indicators of future events.

The word carries a literary, slightly ominous tone: harbingers of doom, harbingers of spring.

A harbinger was originally a person sent ahead to arrange lodging, but now the word almost always describes signs or omens rather than people: The first crocuses are harbingers of warmer days.

omen

portent

Sign of future calamity

forewarningNotice of future trouble
presageIndicate beforehand
auguryOmen interpretation practice

sign · foreshadowing · premonition · indication · herald · precursor · prophecy · omen · foreboding · warning

literary

herald

Official news announcer

messengerOne who delivers communications
forerunnerOne that comes before
prophetDivinely inspired messenger

sentinel · announcer · crier · envoy · scout · vanguard · outrider · avant-garde · pioneer · precursor

doom

apocalypse

Total civilizational collapse

catastropheDevastating, large-scale misfortune
ravenLarge black carrion bird
crowLarge black corvid

comet · eclipse · plague · locusts · horsemen · death · destruction · calamity · pestilence · famine

seasonal

robin

Small orange-breasted thrush

swallowSend down the throat
crocusSmall spring bulb flower
groundhogNorth American burrowing marmot

snowdrop · daffodil · cherry blossom · budding trees · geese · monarch butterfly · first frost · falling leaves · cicada · cuckoo

harbingers

portent

herald

apocalypse

robin

harbingers

Opposites

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