foreseeable

[fawr-see-uh-buhl]

adjective

1. as far as can be seen.

   Our objective is to make travel around the city quick, easy, and trouble-free for the foreseeable future.

2. able to be known or seen in advance.

   A key finding was that the fire was foreseeable, and both the mine owner and the regulatory agencies could have prevented it from occurring.

Other Word Forms

• foreseeability noun
• unforeseeable adjective
• unforeseeableness noun
• unforeseeably adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of foreseeable¹

foresee + -able

Example Sentences

Back in Maine, Nixon hoped that with his windows sealed and his AC units removed, his home would remain ladybug-free for the foreseeable future.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The company raised its prices about 2% in the company’s latest quarter, and said it sees “a challenging market for the foreseeable future on beef.”

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Both the heavyweight platforms say that human drivers will be operating most of their rides for the foreseeable future.

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“There will be long days and long nights here for the foreseeable future to make up for all this lost time that was imposed upon us.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In and of itself it was a remarkable fact: The catastrophe was foreseeable, yet only a handful noticed.

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Related Words

• likely 
• predicted www.thesaurus.com
• proposed 
• scheduled 

When To Use

What does foreseeable mean?

If something is foreseeable, it means it can be predicted or identified in advance.Foreseeable is the adjective form of the verb foresee, which means to see or know beforehand.Foreseeable is often used in the phrase the foreseeable future, referring to the span of time in the near future about which reasonable assumptions can be made.Example: Unfortunately, due to the road closure we’ll be taking the detour for the foreseeable future.