foreknow
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of foreknow
First recorded in 1400–50, foreknow is from the late Middle English word foreknowen. See fore-, know 1
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:
For while still dreading your doom, you foreknow it.
From Pierre; or The Ambiguities by Melville, Herman
Her impatience was proportionable to the love she had for them, and which made her wish to foreknow all the happiness that was like to attend them.
From The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campell A Gentlen, who, tho' Deaf and Dumb, Writes down any Stranger's name at first Sight; by Defoe, Daniel
“Whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.”
From Orthography As Outlined in the State Course of Study for Illinois by Cavins, Elmer W.
But after ourselves moving in such an environment it is marvelous to ponder that any creatures prefer it, and good to foreknow that our own world will swim out into a splendid frosty weather.
From Minstrel Weather by Storm, Marian
As one in nerves, and pulse, and spirits bad, Who of some frequent fever waits the blow, E'en so I felt—for how could I foreknow Such near end of the half-joys I have had?
From The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch by Campbell, Thomas
Those whom God foreknew, GW also predestined to be conformed to the image of God's child .
From Time Magazine Archive
Now his heart foreknew the wrath to come, but he could not take flight, being by Athena bound there.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
They could not precede them unless we foreknew what the deviations were to be; and we could not afford to entrust the work of guessing to government officials.
From Readings in Money and Banking Selected and Adapted by Phillips, Chester Arthur
For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2God hath not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
From A Translation of the New Testament from the original Greek by Haweis, T.
For Merlin by his art foreknew that this firstborn should be the long-wished prince, King Arthur.
From King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Unknown
Again, we take no pleasure in foreknowing the fate of wholly uninteresting people; which is as much as to say that character is indispensable to enduring interest in drama.
From Play-Making A Manual of Craftsmanship by Archer, William
My guardian spirit follows me in that shape; a foreknowing woman told me so.
From The Thrall of Leif the Lucky A Story of Viking Days by Liljencrantz, Ottilie A. (Ottilia Adelina)
Bid my destiny Yield to thy power the dark and hidden end, And let me fall foreknowing.
From Pharsalia; Dramatic Episodes of the Civil Wars by Lucan
"Skroppa herself could not be foreknowing about him!"
From The Ward of King Canute; a romance of the Danish conquest by Liljencrantz, Ottilie A. (Ottilia Adelina)
If they had been foreknowing of that misery, they could not with heedless mind have enjoyed the prosperity of the present life.
From The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of ?lfric, in the Original Anglo-Saxon, with an English Version. Volume I. by Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham
Emergency managers in central Puget Sound understand what is possible and are doing their best to plan for the foreknown consequences of a major earthquake.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 26, 2021
Yet, although the President's reasons were foreknown, his restatement of them in the Coolidge vernacular did not lessen their force as an expression of the point of view for which he stands.
From Time Magazine Archive
"The fortunes of cities, as well as of men," said Plutarch, "have their certain periods of time prefixed, which may be collected and foreknown from the position of the stars."
From Time Magazine Archive
Where groups or individuals analyzed public reactions it was with a thought of their use, of their conscious manipulation to achieve a foreknown effect for the benefit of the group doing the manipulating.
From Time Magazine Archive
Could we have foreknown the history of its first couple of years, there would have been no federation in our time.
From Thirty Years in Australia by Cambridge, Ada
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.
