What's the difference between betoken and portent?

Betoken


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To signify by some visible object; to show by signs or tokens.
  • (v. t.) To foreshow by present signs; to indicate something future by that which is seen or known; as, a dark cloud often betokens a storm.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But ‘widespread and systematic’ does betoken government control.” Crane said: “Now we have direct evidence of what was happening to people who had disappeared.
  • (2) Their suicide exploits inside Israel proper betokened the much larger meaning which the intifada carried for them: "complete liberation" to which, in his early years, Arafat had subscribed.
  • (3) The head of the ulna almost certainly betokens a range of radioulnar supination in cercopithecoids that is substantially less than is to be found in any of the hominoid genera.
  • (4) But the differences between the various conditions were small (below 20 degrees) and seem attributable to various distortions of the response wave from away from a true sinusoid, rather than betokening a difference in the ratio of velocity to length sensitivity under the various conditions.
  • (5) RFK reportedly adored JFK, while the latter was capable of snarling putdowns that surely betokened a fragile sense of self-worth pathetic in the most powerful man on the planet.
  • (6) All these properties betoken the polysaccharidic nature of M antigen.
  • (7) His recorded observations on colour blindness are detailed and precise and betoken the approach which was to characterise all his later research in chemistry.
  • (8) The proportional increase of elderly persons in most communities and increasing tooth retention among them betoken considerable change in gerodontic needs.
  • (9) As he speaks, there is, behind those crypto-Trotskyist glasses, a glint betokening political ardour.

Portent


Definition:

  • (n.) That which portends, or foretoken; esp., that which portends evil; a sign of coming calamity; an omen; a sign.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) David Moyes' first season in charge of United has been conspicuously torrid one, but a win here tonight would earn him no shortage of goodwill from supporters anxious for portents of better things to come next season.
  • (2) Theranos is a perfect tech company name – it sounds mysterious, Greek and portentous.
  • (3) In the letter written to the papers by 60 leading medical professionals on the first day of the House of Lords debate two weeks ago, they said portentously "the British people do not support the privatisation of the NHS".
  • (4) Even before final results were announced a statement from Romney, who was campaigning in Texas, sought to capitalise on the victory by acclaiming it a portent of what was to come.
  • (5) But the commander made it clear he considered full withdrawal to be a portent of disaster.
  • (6) The portents do not look good for Malaysia's opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim , whose trial on highly dubious sodomy charges draws to a close this week.
  • (7) The advocacy of computer operators' needs by user-welfare groups, universities, labor unions, and government agencies are portents for achieving genuine improvements.
  • (8) Russell Crowe looks on stentorian form as the pre-flood patriarch, reeling from portents of the apocalypse and determined to protect his wife (Jennifer Connelly), his adopted daughter (Emma Watson) and the animals of the world.
  • (9) In previous tournaments that might have been seen as typical of the Murphy’s law that seems to apply to England at international competitions or at least as an ominous portent of things to come.
  • (10) Certain fishes have occasional circulating erythroplastids, conceptually a portent of phylogenetic changes in higher vertebrates.
  • (11) "My older brother Matt did it," he said, portentously, "I have to beat him."
  • (12) 42.5% - show that head injuries are most frequent; however, lesions of shoulders and upper and lower extremities are far more portentous ++ to the affected players in many respects.
  • (13) It is up to Wenger now to prove it was a blip rather than a portent of things to come.
  • (14) The ongoing refugee crisis in Europe is a portent, the last thing China wants to face in its own back yard.
  • (15) Today those theories are Film School 101, and Battleship Potemkin's technique is talked about more than its political portent.
  • (16) He described the Community Shield as being somewhere between a pre-season friendly and a Premier League fixture and he cautioned against it being treated as a portent for the season.
  • (17) These two cases serve to alert the physician that severe hypocholesterolemia is a portentous finding that may be associated both with a wide variety of diseases and with a high mortality rate.
  • (18) Add it all together and the portents are highly encouraging.
  • (19) After a party conference season in which health funding pledges were prominent, and with the NHS set to feature heavily in the runup to the 2015 general election, the byelection is a portent of political battles to come.
  • (20) The portent of these different haemostatic mechanisms upon repair of the endothelial cell wall and neovascularization have yet to be determined.