Some people say this change portends the end of whites as the majority race by the middle of the next century - a dubious theory as best.

What does the change portend?

Mr. Paulsen says these changes may portend a slowdown in the economy later this year.

Even so, the decision has created a mood of nervous expectancy here, a mixture of fear and hope about what the change portends.

Here, more than in most places, changes in business portend widespread change in the community because business is such an integral part of Japanese society.

That change, Mr. Hughes said, portends self-perpetuating congestion.

The change portends a future in which far fewer humans sit in control rooms gazing at video displays, replaced by ranks of smart machines.

Such a change would portend a coming increase in spending, as borrowers built new factories, bought new houses or acquired companies.

That change may portend a more negative fall campaign than either Mr. Bush himself or his advisers have predicted.

I hadn't seen the truth because I'd been too busy worrying about what his change in mood portended.