foresee

[fawr-see]

verb (used with object)

foresaw, foreseen, foreseeing. 

1. to have prescience of; to know in advance; foreknow.

   Synonyms: discern, divine

2. to see beforehand.

verb (used without object)

foresaw, foreseen, foreseeing. 

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

Other Word Forms

• foreseeable adjective
• foreseer noun
• unforeseeing adjective
• unforeseen adjective
• well-foreseen adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of foresee¹

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

Synonym Study

See predict.

Example Sentences

Quotron had been the first to harness the computer for financial data, but it didn’t foresee the possibilities of the internet.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The older she’s gotten, however, the more trouble she has had foreseeing ever getting married at all.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

"Until last mile connectivity is fixed, I don't foresee anyone landing at one airport and travelling to the other to catch another flight," Mr Anand says.

Read more on BBC

“I don’t foresee a real avenue for actual relief here,” Nadreau said “Courts are incredibly reluctant to weigh in on the authenticity of religious practices.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

From this bold declaration she unspools her thesis: The Constitution was not freeze-dried at the beginning but instead has bloomed and grown to meet the republic’s needs, as the framers foresaw.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• discern 
• envisage 
• expect 
• forecast 
• foretell 
• perceive 
• presage 

When To Use

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.