foregone conclusion, a
Idioms-
An outcome regarded as inevitable, as in The victory was a foregone conclusion .
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A conclusion formed in advance of argument or consideration, as in The jury was warned to consider all of the evidence and not base their decision on a foregone conclusion . This idiom probably was invented by Shakespeare ( Othello , 3:3) but scholars are not agreed as to his precise meaning. [c. 1600]
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.
Bank boss Jerome Powell said last month that another cut at its December policy meeting was not a "foregone conclusion", a comment that has been echoed by a number of colleagues.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
He speaks about a strong U.S.-India relationship as a foregone conclusion, a “defining chapter” that he and the Biden administration are already etching into history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2023
In the end, “Breaking” feels like a foregone conclusion: a dismal portrait of a system — and a someone — already irreparably broken.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 22, 2022
One Book Called Ulysses, had to have been a foregone conclusion: a whole nation against “one book”? What could be more absurd?
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 16, 2014
How was his death to be made, not a foregone conclusion, a mere conventional suicide, but the culminating moment of the tragedy?
From Play-Making A Manual of Craftsmanship by William Archer
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.
