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aforethought

American  
[uh-fawr-thawt, uh-fohr-] / əˈfɔrˌθɔt, əˈfoʊr- /

adjective

  1. thought of previously; premeditated (usually used predicatively).

    with malice aforethought.

noun

  1. premeditation; forethought.

aforethought British  
/ əˈfɔːˌθɔːt /

adjective

  1. (immediately postpositive) premeditated (esp in the phrase malice aforethought )

"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

Etymology

Origin of aforethought

First recorded in 1575–85; afore + thought 2

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.

Francis Iles, who as Anthony Berkeley writes detective fiction, is also known to U. S. readers as the author of two much-admired psychological murder stories, Before the Fact and Malice Aforethought.

From Time Magazine Archive

Aforethought, a-fōr′thawt, adj. thought of or meditated before: premeditated.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

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.

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