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:
What the Yankees didn’t foresee was that Schlittler would ultimately gain 8 miles per hour on his average fastball, a remarkable jump from just a couple of years prior.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
“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
Then, according to the handed-down story, McLane managed to somehow deliver the codebook to Admiral de Grasse, enabling him to foresee British maneuvers and win the sea battle.
From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen
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
SpaceX says in its filing that it foresees $28.5 trillion—yes, trillion—in market opportunities, including data centers in space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
If Fidesz were to win those seats, he foresees a potential victory.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026
For the current first quarter, Bumble foresees revenue of $209 million to $213 million, down from $247.1 million in the same period last year.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
“Mr. Curtain foresees a ‘call to greater duty’ in the near future.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
As governor he foresaw the economic advantages of cultivating Japanese auto manufacturers for investment in Tennessee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
The signers of the Declaration of Independence never foresaw a World Cup, much less an American World Cup team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 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
But it is unlikely, as it strategised ahead of commencing the attacks on Iran, that the US fully foresaw some of these economic consequences.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
Burry replied that while it was true that he foresaw Armageddon, he wasn’t betting on it.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
No one could’ve foreseen the unobtrusively great career that Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy has carved out for himself, specifically over the last nine seasons in Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 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
Others, like “Obsession,” catapult from modest beginnings into an echelon of popularity that not even the academics and historians could’ve foreseen.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
While some supply-chain-related impact to IBM’s prior expectations were foreseen, “we did not anticipate the magnitude of the capex reprioritization,” Krishna said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
Lavender was waiting beside the portrait hole, a complication Harry had not foreseen.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
But that Qiu was in town at all suggests an intelligence failure for Beijing in not foreseeing the U.S. strike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
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
Perhaps foreseeing the Boeing Bust that followed in 1970, he left before the first 747 was delivered.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2023
She planned everything coldly, foreseeing difficulties and preparing for them.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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.
