foresee
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Usage
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.
Synonym Usage
See predict.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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foreseernoun
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foreseeableadjective
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unforeseeingadjective
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unforeseenadjective
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well-foreseenadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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foreseesimple
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foreseessimple
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have foreseenperfect
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has foreseenperfect
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am foreseeingprogressive
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are foreseeingprogressive
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is foreseeingprogressive
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have been foreseeingperfect progressive
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has been foreseeingperfect progressive
Past
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foresawsimple
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had foreseenperfect
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was foreseeingprogressive
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were foreseeingprogressive
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had been foreseeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of foresee
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English foresēon. See fore-, see 1
Explanation
When you foresee something, you predict or realistically envision it happening. Did you foresee your team winning the playoffs, or were you surprised? Think of foresee as “to see before.” Prophets in literature are able to foresee events that come to pass; in Greek mythology Tiresias is known for his ability to foresee the future. But foresee is not always linked to a supernatural sense. Regular people can foresee events by imagining them taking place — and sometimes we use this as a way of prevention. If you foresee yourself failing geometry if you don’t study more, you will probably hit the books.
Vocabulary lists containing foresee
Power Prefix: fore-
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Walk Two Moons
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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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:
“But with that, I can’t foresee him running out there and throwing 100 pitches his first outing.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
This is going to be painful in ways that you can’t foresee, but if you remain adaptable and empathetic, you could be embarking on an illuminating chapter of your life.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
"What we did not foresee is that this project would end up being his last major commission," he added.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
Cumulatively, these projections foresee nearly 23 million units added across two decades, when demand only called for roughly 19.4 million.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026
It was possible to foresee that the coming winter would be a hard one.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
In its first look into 2027, the International Energy Agency said it foresees the return of an oil glut due to record investments.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026
The agreement foresees a phased lifting of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports as well as the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, something European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said should happen immediately.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
It foresees an operating margin of 13.6% to 13.8% for the year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
Rather than one replacing the other, it foresees more partnerships between "AI tool firms and IT services firms that can create several new areas of work".
From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2026
And it matters very little what one does or foresees, since if one does not separate or scatter the inhabitants, they will not forget that name or those institutions.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Has the office served its purpose, or has it lingered one bureaucracy layered on top of a bunch of other bureaucracies, as some critics foresaw?
From Slate ● Jun. 15, 2026
But it is unlikely, as it strategised ahead of commencing the attacks on Iran, that the US fully foresaw some of these economic consequences.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
In 2020, at the museum’s intersection of 18th Street and Crickets, the city of Lubbock installed what no one foresaw would be a controversial feature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
The average analyst estimate calculated by FactSet foresaw a loss of 7 cents per share.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2025
Fiver said no more and Hazel turned his thoughts to the raid and the difficulty he foresaw of getting the hutch rabbits to go the distance back to the warren.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Others, like “Obsession,” catapult from modest beginnings into an echelon of popularity that not even the academics and historians could’ve foreseen.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
While some supply-chain-related impact to IBM’s prior expectations were foreseen, “we did not anticipate the magnitude of the capex reprioritization,” Krishna said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
In March, the market did experience a broadening many investors had foreseen, though not in the direction most wanted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
"I am sure that you could and should have reasonably foreseen the risk," said Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026
“I had not foreseen this,” Gwydion murmured, when Taran had finished.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
But that Qiu was in town at all suggests an intelligence failure for Beijing in not foreseeing the U.S. strike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
He is shifting Brazil exposure to longer-term bonds, foreseeing a “neutral” interest rate of 10% to 11%, eventually.
From Barron's ● Dec. 23, 2025
In his article, Mr Wallace says he thinks Mr Netanyahu feels "shame" for not foreseeing the deadly attacks - especially as "someone who presented himself as a security hawk and tough guy".
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2023
Perhaps foreseeing the Boeing Bust that followed in 1970, he left before the first 747 was delivered.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2023
Thus, when Mr. Sharpe announced his visit to the garret where I played, I was deeply troubled, foreseeing that even this species of expression might be withdrawn.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
