foreshadow
Americanverb (used with object)
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foreshadows,
present (3rd person singular)
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foreshadowed,
past participle, past
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foreshadowing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
foreshadowsimple
-
foreshadowssimple
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have foreshadowedperfect
-
has foreshadowedperfect
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am foreshadowingprogressive
-
are foreshadowingprogressive
-
is foreshadowingprogressive
-
have been foreshadowingperfect progressive
-
has been foreshadowingperfect progressive
Past
-
foreshadowedsimple
-
had foreshadowedperfect
-
was foreshadowingprogressive
-
were foreshadowingprogressive
-
had been foreshadowingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of foreshadow
Explanation
To foreshadow is to predict something or to give a hint of what is to come. Your kid sister's ability to take apart a toaster and put it back together might foreshadow a successful career in electronics. The verb foreshadow can mean "to warn" and often has a suggestion of something bad to come, though sometimes it's more neutral or shows examples of both good and bad predictions. Dark gray clouds foreshadow a thunderstorm, just as spring showers foreshadow May flowers. What is foreshadowed doesn't always happen, though. A story might not foreshadow a happily-ever-after ending, but it can take an unexpected twist where the villain turns out to be a hero.
Vocabulary lists containing foreshadow
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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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:
Indeed, months of drought and heat waves tend to foreshadow the fiercest wildfires.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
Yet many of the body plans seen in those ancient animals foreshadow features that later appeared in dinosaurs, birds, and other groups.
From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026
The Tokyo figures, which often foreshadow nationwide trends, showed price pressures easing at the start of 2026.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
England could have retained the Ashes in Perth, only for Mitchell Johnson to foreshadow the havoc he would cause four years later.
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2025
Sturtevant’s rudimentary genetic map would foreshadow the vast and elaborate efforts to map genes along the human genome in the 1990s.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Meanwhile, the oil crisis hitting Asia foreshadows tough times for Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
History tells us that large and rapidly growing debt in major economies often foreshadows a financial crisis.
From Barron's ● Mar. 7, 2026
Viewed against such a prism, this foreshadows a period of sloppy price action or correction for the stock market.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 24, 2025
Analysts suggest imminent, further base rate cuts by the Bank of England appear unlikely, and uncertainty always foreshadows a Budget.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2025
There was movement in the darkness, scuffling and shuffling, a redistribution of ancient centuries, an evasion of foreshadows.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Psychiatry’s embrace of Dr. Snyder’s finding was foreshadowed by a convergence of pre-existing forces.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
His comments upon exiting might have foreshadowed the current difficulties.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
That set foreshadowed the history lesson in Puerto Rican music Bad Bunny would soon give with "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos," which he promoted with a hometown concert residency.
From Barron's ● Feb. 2, 2026
In October, Bessent had foreshadowed the change, saying future revisions would “position FinCEN as a gatekeeper” over AML enforcement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025
Gravesend had been swallowed by a heavy, chilled night, the kind that could have foreshadowed snow.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
So far, neither side is showing signs of backing down, foreshadowing a fight that could take years.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2026
I wish I’d noted that line as foreshadowing, but just like any good mystery, the clues are only evident in hindsight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2026
But markets have a way of foreshadowing future shifts.
From Barron's ● Dec. 26, 2025
Even the announcement of the Ashes squad was an anticlimactic foreshadowing of things to come.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2025
For there were really two dreams, the first like a dim, blurred, infernal foreshadowing of the second.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
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.
