foray
Americannoun
-
forays
plural
verb (used without object)
-
forays,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forayed,
past participle, past
-
foraying
present participle
-
to make a raid; pillage; maraud.
-
to invade or make one's way, as for profit or adventure.
foreign industries foraying into U.S. markets.
verb (used with object)
-
forays,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forayed,
past participle, past
-
foraying
present participle
noun
-
a short raid or incursion
-
a first attempt or new undertaking
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
foraysimple
-
forayssimple
-
have forayedperfect
-
has forayedperfect
-
am forayingprogressive
-
are forayingprogressive
-
is forayingprogressive
-
have been forayingperfect progressive
-
has been forayingperfect progressive
Past
-
forayedsimple
-
had forayedperfect
-
was forayingprogressive
-
were forayingprogressive
-
had been forayingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of foray
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English forraien, apparently by back formation from forrayour, forreour, forrier, from Old French forrier, fourrier, equivalent to fo(u)rr(er), derivative of fuerre “provender” ( see forage) + -ier -ier 2
Explanation
Foray means brief excursion. If you're in the army, that's a literal excursion into enemy territory. For the rest of us, it means trying something out. "My foray into rugby ended with my spending a week in the hospital." This word derives from the Latin fuerre 'straw', which led into Old French as fourager 'forage,' or search for food. Think of soldiers stealing food from the enemy as maybe how this word first came to be used. Even if that is historically inaccurate, your foray into amateur word-sleuthing will help you remember this word.
Vocabulary lists containing foray
To Kill a Mockingbird
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 1–6
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
Ponder the first lady’s foray into diplomacy: Melania Trump is an enigmatic figure in Trumpworld.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2026
The venture marks a new foray for Luckey, who has branched out from running Anduril, which was recently valued at $90 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
The development, which will house 338 condominiums, marks Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s first foray into residential real estate.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
Meta’s foray into virtual reality products dates to 2014, when the company purchased Oculus VR.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
But President Eisenhower had insisted that the nation’s first foray into space be presented as a peaceful effort, rather than an explicitly military operation that risked triggering a dangerous retaliation by the Soviet Union.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Just over three years ago, Ure left Rangers as a teenager, his last forays with the senior team being one minute against St Mirren in November 2022 and another minute against Hibs in May 2023.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
The economic pressure has been matched by increasing forays by Chinese aircraft and warships close to Japan, and a stream of diplomatic invective invoking Japan’s wartime past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
One of Parton’s first forays into purer pop, this single has the stomp and shuffle of funk and could easily be retrofitted into disco DJ sets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Famous Boston fund manager Jeremy Grantham recalled in his autobiography one of his first forays into stock picking as a young man.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
All of us enjoyed hearing about these little forays of his into the twentieth century, so Francis and I pressed him to tell us what now had happened.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Before he forayed into creating board games, Mr Teuber worked as a dental technician.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2023
Besides its core markets of Malaysia and Bangladesh, Edotco has built up a portfolio of towers in Myanmar and Cambodia, forayed into Indonesia last year and bought assets in the Philippines, among others.
From Reuters ● Mar. 13, 2023
He launched his label in 2006 and has since collaborated on a collection with Target and forayed into home goods with Schumacher.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2022
Her parents have also forayed into the reality show world.
From Salon ● Sep. 10, 2019
I have my mother’s thin blood, the kind so easily forayed by a chilly draft, an unexpected rain.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
But Xiaomi, which reported an 18.9% drop in its latest quarterly revenue in May, has its own compulsions for foraying into EVs.
From Reuters ● Aug. 23, 2023
As Ford sped forward, a sea of red-coated musicians cavorted and pranced across the south end of the field, foraying past the 20-yard line.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2021
Their sit-and-wait technique involved male baboons hovering around urban perimeters before foraying into the city.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 26, 2018
While Fletcher and his students are foraying into other applications of the mobile microscope, such as examining your skin or testing for malaria and Tb, MIT’s Ramesh Raskar has become known as the ‘Eye Guy.’
From Forbes ● Jul. 1, 2014
Breaths come to him in song of the distant Cheviots and the ring of foraying hoofs.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume 9 by Robert Louis Stevenson
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
