foretell
Americanverb (used with object)
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foretells,
present (3rd person singular)
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foretold,
past participle, past
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foretelling
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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foretellsimple
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foretellssimple
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have foretoldperfect
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has foretoldperfect
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am foretellingprogressive
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are foretellingprogressive
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is foretellingprogressive
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have been foretellingperfect progressive
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has been foretellingperfect progressive
Past
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foretoldsimple
-
had foretoldperfect
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was foretellingprogressive
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were foretellingprogressive
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had been foretellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of foretell
First recorded in 1250–1300, foretell is from the Middle English word fortell. See fore-, tell 1
Explanation
To foretell is to predict or hint at something. Some people believe that two crows foretell good luck for the person who sees them. Signs and omens foretell good or bad fortune, and symbolism in the early chapters of a novel can foretell events that happen near the end of the book. Longtime sailors sometimes say that a pink morning sky foretells bad weather later in the day. In each case, something is being foreshadowed or forecast. Fore is an Old English prefix that means "before" or "earlier," and it's combined here with tell, "to reckon or consider."
Vocabulary lists containing foretell
Friday the 13th
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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
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"Briar Rose" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
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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:
A high ADR premium doesn’t necessarily foretell disaster—in 2008-09, TSMC’s fat premium was the result of Taiwanese shares’ falling much more than the ADRs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Social media is awash in content about the arcane: how-tos for spellcasting, psychics claiming to foretell the future and endless posts about casting out demons.
From Salon ● Apr. 1, 2026
Perhaps it’s bear markets that foretell better times.
From Barron's ● Dec. 31, 2025
Her name was Annie—“just Annie,” no surname—and she was “just an orphan,” a nobody, really, but she never let her impoverished origins foretell her fate.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2024
And all this shall be just as I foretell.’
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
This foretells of a world where hydrocarbons are substituted by other energy sources.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
The “Skyscraper Index” foretells tough times for a city or country that’s just built the world’s tallest one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026
If the coming days are anything like those of past years, analysts will try to make the case that the stock market’s performance at the beginning of January foretells its full-year direction.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 2, 2026
Montiel takes a while to tip his hand that he’s after something more emotionally complex than the first act foretells.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2025
Mother warns how we act today foretells the whole year.
From "Inside Out and Back Again" by Thanhha Lai
When the Fed eased after a market rout, it was usually reacting to what the decline foretold.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
The extravagant and perhaps exaggerated promises of artificial superintelligence always foretold this outcome.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
To a remarkable degree, they foretold many of the failures that would beset L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
His three under par on the front nine of the second day at the North was noteworthy, but hardly foretold a round that would go into lore.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2025
But, then, a voice within me averred that I could do it and foretold that I should do it.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
England are due to make it to the semi-finals, with Portugal poised to knock them out two decades after they did in 2006 - though the model stops short of foretelling 'penalties, again'.
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
In the dark recesses of the U.S. economy, price pressures are bubbling up and foretelling another wave of inflation.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
Industry prognosticators and AI evangelists have spent months foretelling the toll Anthropic and other sophisticated AI tools would exact on software-as-a-service companies that were darlings of the previous internet era.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
A foretelling of last earthly smells, whether for the hunted or the hunter.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2025
He had the power both of foretelling the future and of changing his shape at will.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
