foresee
Americanverb (used with object)
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foresees,
present (3rd person singular)
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foresaw,
past
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foreseen,
past participle
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foreseeing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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foresees,
present (3rd person singular)
-
foresaw,
past
-
foreseen,
past participle
-
foreseeing
present participle
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:
“If I can foresee this, then I think an engineer who’s designing the product can foresee it too.”
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
"We do not foresee a restart within the next 10 days," plant director Romeo Urjan told the AFP news agency.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
"We do not foresee a restart within the next ten days," the plant's director, Romeo Urjan, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
Other times it’s getting married or having a kid or trying to foresee retiring one day.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 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
It foresees an operating margin of 13.6% to 13.8% for the year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
Rindos foresees eXp’s revenue rising by 3% in 2026, and expects $68 million in adjusted Ebitda, an increase of over 100%, “highlighting the operating leverage in this business as the number of transactions increase.”
From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026
Arm Holdings foresees significant demand for its chips as swarms of intelligent agents require ever-more processing capacity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 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
At the start of the season nobody foresaw much, if any, of this.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Just one foresaw a cut, down from 12.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
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
Playing at Knott’s has forged meaningful connections to the community in ways Dangerously never foresaw in his early rock ‘n’ roll days.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
I think that already he foresaw his livelihood being wrested from him, for he salted and tanned his own skins, making them into chaplis for those in the village who wore them.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
To a degree that even critics could not have foreseen a year ago, the United States struts and frets on the world stage alone.
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026
Addressed to Burnham and the arts minister Lisa Nandy, the petition posted by activist group Good Law Project claimed Arday's death was "the direct, foreseeable and foreseen result of press harassment".
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Would you have foreseen that, after you got back together, you and Rich would release two albums in less than two years?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 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 should have foreseen that. I’m sorry—” “No, it’s fine.”
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
People could be forgiven for not foreseeing the earth-shattering events that were around the bend—the Depression, World War II, the birth of Elvis Presley.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
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
They all face similar pressures, but some have done better than others at foreseeing the danger and planning for it.
From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2025
New inflation figures are to be published Friday, with analysts at Deutsche Bank foreseeing another decline in overall inflation to 5.8%.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
“That’s the one,” said Harry, foreseeing a great danger and determining to prevent it immediately.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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.
