Make Your Point > Archived Issues > HARBINGER
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pronounce
HARBINGER:
Say it "HAR bin jur."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
My friends and I used to play this majorly creepy board game called Atmosfear: The Harbingers, which made me think that a harbinger was something that foretold only gloom and doom.
"You're gonna have a spooky time!"
But as I learned later, a harbinger can foretell something pleasant, too: "'Baby One More Time' was the harbinger of a long, successful career for Britney Spears."
"You're gonna have a new Princess of Pop and at least six award-winning albums!"
Likewise, it took me a while to learn that omens aren't always om_n___: they can foretell peace, success, happiness, and so on, not just gloom and doom. (Can you recall that adjective with the blanks? It means "gloom-and-doom-y.")
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
We can trace our word "harbinger" back to the medieval Latin word hereberga, meaning "lodging, or quarters." (It's related to our word "harbor.")
In English, the first harbingers were hosts: people who provided lodging.
Then, by the year 1368 or so, harbingers were also people you'd send ahead of your group to arrange lodging for everyone.
The meaning then loosened up: a harbinger could be anything that lets people know about who--or what--is coming soon.
It's this extra-loose meaning that we use today: a harbinger of something is a sign of it, a warning of it, or an indication that it's going to happen soon.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Most often a noun, the countable kind: "It was a harbinger for an improving economy;" "They're harbingers of climate change."
Rarely, also a verb, the transitive kind: "A rainbow harbingers happiness."
Other forms:
Harbingers, harbingered, harbingering.
how to use it:
Compared to more common synonyms like "sign" and "signal," our word "harbinger" helps you call more attention to your idea and express it in a more serious tone.
Say that a certain event, experience, result, statistic, statement, action, or decision is a harbinger.
Usually, you'll call that thing a harbinger of or for what's happening next: "it's a harbinger of a healthy economy," "it's a harbinger for a downturn in school spirit."
examples:
"...Clumps of snowdrop flowers appear prematurely next to my driveway, their comely blossoms a harbinger of spring."
— Lisa W. Foderaro, New York Times, 7 March 2020
"If we could transfer that fantasy about art — that there is something magical in its presence, that it is somehow human, like us, with emotions and agency — to actual people, we would live in a far better world. We might then put these great works in a new category, no longer relics of a sacred past, but harbingers of a new, humanist future."
— Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 24 March 2020
has this page helped you understand "harbinger"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "harbinger" without saying "herald" or "forerunner."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) saw (something) as a harbinger of (something great or terrible)."
Example: "When my little daughter shouted 'bye!' at the same classmate six times in a row, I saw it as a harbinger of her first crush. Luckily, I was wrong."
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game this month is "Polygon of Predestination!"
With a high five to TheWordFinder.com for its puzzle generator, I'm Pat-Sajacking that spin-the-wheel game from TV. Apply your alliterative acumen to solve the puzzle. The category all month long is: "Beastly Blunders and Criminal Capers."
From the previous issue:
This obnoxious behavior is something you might do over the phone or in person, and so it may be as old as time. But the phrase is young: it dates to 1972, when we first saw it in the Times, encased in a pair of self-conscious quotation marks: "She and Ken used to set off for the City, 'cold calling' on travel agencies...that might have jobbing work."
Try this one today:
Not sure yet? Need to see a bit more? Click here.
review this word:
1. A near opposite of HARBINGER is
A. DEATH KNELL.
B. MORIBUND ECONOMY.
C. MONSTRE SACRÉ (famous weirdo).
2. Erigenia bulbosa, also called "harbinger of spring," blooms _____.
A. all year.
B. in March.
C. as summer begins.
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Say it "HAR bin jur."
My friends and I used to play this majorly creepy board game called Atmosfear: The Harbingers, which made me think that a harbinger was something that foretold only gloom and doom.
We can trace our word "harbinger" back to the medieval Latin word hereberga, meaning "lodging, or quarters." (It's related to our word "harbor.")
Part of speech:
Compared to more common synonyms like "sign" and "signal," our word "harbinger" helps you call more attention to your idea and express it in a more serious tone.
"...Clumps of snowdrop flowers appear prematurely next to my driveway, their comely blossoms a harbinger of spring."
Explain the meaning of "harbinger" without saying "herald" or "forerunner."
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) saw (something) as a harbinger of (something great or terrible)."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
1. A near opposite of HARBINGER is
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