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View synonyms for foresee

foresee

[ fawr-see ]

verb (used with object)

, fore·saw, fore·seen, fore·see·ing.
  1. to have prescience of; to know in advance; foreknow.

    Synonyms: discern, divine

  2. to see beforehand.


verb (used without object)

, fore·saw, fore·seen, fore·see·ing.
  1. to exercise foresight.

foresee

/ fɔːˈsiː /

verb

  1. tr; may take a clause as object to see or know beforehand

    he did not foresee that

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • foreˈseeable, adjective
  • foreˈseer, noun
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Other Words From

  • fore·see·a·ble adjective
  • fore·se·er noun
  • un·fore·see·ing adjective
  • un·fore·seen adjective
  • well-fore·seen adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of foresee1

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English foresēon. See fore-, see 1
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Synonym Study

See predict.
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Example Sentences

Crucially for the present moment, they also did not “foresee that members of Congress and perhaps members of the judicial branch, too, would refuse to check the power of a president from their own party.”

From Salon

"You can never foresee something like that," he said.

From BBC

Sir John faced fierce criticism in the House of Commons for failing to foresee the attack and leaving the islands vulnerable to invasion.

From BBC

He added that the downturn in consumer spending and the scandal involving Prophecy could not have been foreseen, but that B. Riley is in “far better shape than folks give us credit for.”

No one in their right mind could have foreseen a United States president replicating the most famous journalistic error in this country’s history as a political tactic.

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More About Foresee

What does foresee mean?

To foresee is to know in advance, as in With all the rain we’ve been having, it was easy to foresee that the river would overflow its banks.

Foresee is different from predict or forecast because to foresee is to know, while to predict or forecast is to guess or calculate rather than to know. Sometimes, though, foresee is used as a synonym for predict to exaggerate one’s confidence in a prediction.

Example: I can foresee where this is going and I want no part of it.

Where does foresee come from?

The first records of the term foresee come from before the 900s. It ultimately comes from the Old English foresēon.

Foresight is commonly used as a synonym for care or understanding to imply that someone knows the best course of action to follow in a certain situation. Someone that foresees something has this care for, or understanding of, what is to come and can plan accordingly for it.

Did you know … ?

What are some other forms related to foresee?

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What are some words that share a root or word element with foresee

What are some words that often get used in discussing foresee?

How is foresee used in real life?

People often claim to have foreseen something after it happens.

 

Try using foresee!

Is foresee used correctly in the following sentence?

Amita didn’t know she would be promoted because she foresaw it.

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