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forearm

1 American  
[fawr-ahrm, fohr-] / ˈfɔrˌɑrm, ˈfoʊr- /

noun

  • forearms
    plural
  1. Anatomy. the part of the arm between the elbow and the wrist.

  2. Zoology. the corresponding part of the foreleg between the elbow and the knee in certain quadrupeds.


forearm 2 American  
[fawr-ahrm, fohr-] / fɔrˈɑrm, foʊr- /

verb (used with object)

  • forearms,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • forearmed,
    past participle,  past
  • forearming
    present participle
  1. to prepare in advance or beforehand, especially for difficulties.


forearm 1 British  
/ ˈfɔːrˌɑːm /

noun

  1. the part of the arm from the elbow to the wrist

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

forearm 2 British  
/ fɔːrˈɑːm /

verb

  1. (tr) to prepare or arm (someone, esp oneself) in advance

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of forearm1

First recorded in 1735–45; fore- + arm 1

Origin of forearm2

First recorded in 1585–95; fore- + arm 2

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:

Her forearm tattoo comprises geometric shapes symbolising different members and aspects of her family.

From BBC Aug. 10, 2026

Another man had a shallot tattooed on his forearm, suggesting either a career behind the line or an allium devotion I could not hope to match.

From Salon Aug. 4, 2026

In October 2023, Manunya tattooed a Kalashnikov assault rifle onto the forearm of a colleague.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 25, 2026

Solemnly, some placed their hands on his shoulder or forearm.

From Barron's Apr. 3, 2026

Annnnnnnd the cords of muscle in his forearm look on the verge of popping through his skin.

From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone

Tesla last year reportedly scrapped plans to build thousands of units for internal use and has had difficulties designing the robots’ hands and forearms, as well as sourcing parts.

From MarketWatch Jan. 22, 2026

The hands are driven by motors that are packed into forearms the size of coffee cans.

From The Wall Street Journal Oct. 25, 2025

Breaking his fall with two hands on the turf, cuffs of his baggy blue keeper's jersey halfway up his forearms and long black curls flowing behind him, Higuita immediately burst into his iconic grin.

From BBC Sep. 6, 2025

In wheel throwing, it’s important to anchor your elbows to your hips, forearms to the splash pan and thighs to the outside of your wheel — I didn’t do any of that.

From Salon May 25, 2025

His forearms were tanned brown, hard and muscly from baseball and laundry work.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

But to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

From Science Daily Jan. 17, 2024

The emotional charge of seeing their top scorer felled by a forearmed shot behind the action from their opponent’s star defenseman seemed to catapult the already surging Kraken to an entirely different level of play.

From Seattle Times Apr. 24, 2023

When it comes to tick-borne illness, forewarned is forearmed.

From Scientific American Jul. 7, 2022

The cartoonist also arrives forearmed with an enthusiastic knowledge of Popeye’s history.

From Washington Post Jun. 3, 2022

These unexpected jolts from Larsen were difficult to prepare for, but Bobby’s continuous study of the old masters left him relatively forearmed.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

This, after all, is a woman who dislocated her shoulder three years ago while forearming a raccoon off her deck to protect her Labrador retriever.

From New York Times Aug. 25, 2011

One of the smug assumptions of the cold war era was that the U.S. was forearming itself with a stockpile of strategically scarce commodities to see it through a wartime siege.

From Time Magazine Archive

He had a presentiment that in this way God was forearming him for some extraordinary trial; and the loss of his wife seemed to him most likely to be that trial.

From The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss by Prentiss, George L.

"Forewarning," she said gloomily, "is a torture when forearming avails naught."

From Saul of Tarsus A Tale of the Early Christians by Miller, Elizabeth

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