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Caveat vs Portend - What's the difference?

caveat | portend |

As verbs the difference between caveat and portend

is that caveat is to qualify a particular statement with a proviso or while portend is to serve as a warning or omen.

As a noun caveat

is a warning.

caveat

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • a warning
  • * 1986 March 9, , "Able Were They Ere They Saw Cable", New York Times :
    • Two young Harvard M.B.A.'s worked up some highly optimistic projections -- with the caveat that these were speculative and should of course be tested.
  • a qualification or exemption
    • He gave his daughter some hyacinth bulbs with the caveat that she plant them in the shade.
  • * 2014 , Jamie Jackson, " Ángel di María says Manchester United were the ‘only club’ after Real", The Guardian , 26 August 2014:
    • If a midfielder and a defender are acquired by 1 September then Louis van Gaal will consider United’s summer in the market almost a success. The one caveat is that the Dutchman wished to have finished strengthening the squad before the start of the season.
  • (legal) a notice requesting a postponement of a court proceeding
  • (legal) a formal notice of interest in land, under a

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To qualify a particular statement with a proviso or
  • * {{quote-book, 1996, Raymond M. Saunders, Blood Tells: A Thriller, page=217 citation
    • , passage=I want to caveat everything I say with the disclaimer that I was working from photos.}}
  • (legal) To lodge a formal notice of interest in land, under a
  • * {{quote-book, 2005, Geoff Moore, Essential Real Property, page=93, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=rKcywZ_1NrMC&pg=PA93, isbn=1876905174
    • , passage=It is unclear whether or not a purchaser upon exchange of contracts will be regarded as guilty of postponing conduct if failing to caveat .}}
  • (legal, dated) To issue a notice requesting that proceedings be suspended
  • * {{quote-book, 1840, T.P. Devereux & W.H. Battle, Reports of cases in equity, argued and determined before the Supreme Court of North Carolina, chapter=Gee v. Gee & Tunstall, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=hMYDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA108, page=108
    • , passage=The answer further alleged that the intestate, in right of his wife, caveated the probate in Virginia of the will of one William Hill, her relation
  • * {{quote-news, 1913, December 6, , Probate Court, Sydney Morning Herald, pageurl=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lKgTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eroDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4420,1740645&dq=caveated-against, page=5
    • , passage=The defendant, father of the testator, had caveated against granting of probate on the ground that the will not duly executed,
  • (obsolete) To warn or caution against some event
  • * {{quote-book, 1663, John Scott, date=December 14, chapter=Captain John Scott to Under Secr'y William., Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, year_published=1853, volume=3, page=48 citation
    • , passage=I beseach you to caveat any addresse being fully heard until some person commissioned from this Countrey be their to confront the sayd Dutch or their complices.}}
  • * {{quote-book, 1825, , Supplement to the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, volume=1, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=9w8oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA210, page=210
    • , passage=This last expression minds me to caveat the Reader, not to be angry at Helebore because it's called Christmas flowre ;

    Derived terms

    * caveatable * caveatee * caveator * caveatory * caveatrix * patent caveat * uncaveated

    Related terms

    * caveat emptor * caveat lector * caveat loan

    Usage notes

    * The modern use of "caveat" as a verb meaning "to qualify with a proviso" is often considered awkward or improper. This usage is strongly associated with former US Secretary of State . ** {{quote-news, **, 1981, , Jim Quinn, Lingo, The Nation citation , passage=Brzezinski never used caveat as a verb. Does that make him better than Haig? }} ** {{quote-book, **, 1993, edition=2002 ed., Robert McCrum et al., The Story of English citation , passage= Some years ago, General Alexander Haig ** {{quote-book, **, 2003, William A. McIntosh, Guide to Effective Military Writing, page=59, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=RPM-6XjS5eoC&pg=PA59 , passage=Using words such as "caveat ," "resource," and "interface" as verbs is not only poor style, but also poor usage. They are nouns, not verbs, and they shouldn't be used as if they were.}}

    See also

    * caveating

    References

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    portend

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to serve as a warning or omen
  • * John Milton, Paradise Lost
    • A kingdom they portend thee, but what kingdom, / Real or allegoric, I discern not; Nor when: eternal sure--as without end,
  • to signify; to denote
    • Let it be known that the Rapture portends the End of Days.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=June 26 , author=Genevieve Koski , title=Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=When the staccato, Neptunes-ian single “Boyfriend” was released in March, musical prognosticators were quick to peg the album it portended , Believe, as Justin Bieber’s Justified, a grown-and-sexy, R&B-centric departure that evolved millennial teenybopper Justin Timberlake into one of the unifying pop-music figures of the aughts.}}

    Synonyms

    * foreshadow * presage

    Related terms

    * portent * portentous

    See also

    * harbinger