foreknow

[ fawr-noh, fohr- ]
See synonyms for foreknow on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),fore·knew, fore·known, fore·knowing.
  1. to know beforehand.

Origin of foreknow

1
First recorded in 1400–50, foreknow is from the late Middle English word foreknowen.See fore-, know1

Other words for foreknow

Other words from foreknow

  • fore·know·a·ble, adjective
  • fore·know·er, noun
  • fore·know·ing·ly, adverb
  • un·fore·know·a·ble, adjective
  • un·fore·known, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use foreknow in a sentence

  • But she could not speak, or would not, foreknowing what must happen now that had never happened to her before.

    Stradella | F(rancis) Marion Crawford
  • It is that with regard to the conduct of free beings, foreknowing is not the same as foreordaining.

    The Truth of Christianity | William Harry Turton
  • For had the man not prayed, God, foreknowing this, might not have arranged for the event to have happened.

    The Truth of Christianity | William Harry Turton
  • For thus to be a foreknowing tempter and occasion, unnecessarily, is to be a moral cause.

    A Christian Directory | Baxter Richard
  • The reversals of fortune, O Cadi, are swift and grievous, and beyond the foreknowing or advertence of men.

British Dictionary definitions for foreknow

foreknow

/ (fɔːˈnəʊ) /


verb-knows, -knowing, -knew or -known
  1. (tr) to know in advance

Derived forms of foreknow

  • foreknowable, adjective
  • foreknowledge, noun
  • foreknowingly, adverb

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