foreshadow
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- foreshadower noun
Etymology
Origin of foreshadow
Explanation
To foreshadow is to predict something or to give a hint of what is to come. Your kid sister's ability to take apart a toaster and put it back together might foreshadow a successful career in electronics. The verb foreshadow can mean "to warn" and often has a suggestion of something bad to come, though sometimes it's more neutral or shows examples of both good and bad predictions. Dark gray clouds foreshadow a thunderstorm, just as spring showers foreshadow May flowers. What is foreshadowed doesn't always happen, though. A story might not foreshadow a happily-ever-after ending, but it can take an unexpected twist where the villain turns out to be a hero.
Vocabulary lists containing foreshadow
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Tokyo figures, which often foreshadow nationwide trends, showed price pressures easing at the start of 2026.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026
Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research noted in a client call on Nov. 10 that improvement in earnings growth and profit margins in the second and third quarters was too strong to foreshadow a recession.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 11, 2025
Strong Azure revenue should foreshadow further revenue beats in fiscal 2026.
From Barron's • Oct. 27, 2025
Fans of Swift - who famously drops hidden messages and hints about future projects - have also become convinced Han has been planting seeds throughout the series to foreshadow the outcome.
From BBC • Sep. 13, 2025
Sturtevant’s rudimentary genetic map would foreshadow the vast and elaborate efforts to map genes along the human genome in the 1990s.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
