foresight

American  

[fawr-sahyt, fohr-] / ˈfɔrˌsaɪt, ˈfoʊr- /

noun

• foresights
  plural

1. care or provision for the future; provident care; prudence.

2. the act or power of foreseeing; prevision; prescience.

3. an act of looking forward.

4. knowledge or insight gained by or as by looking forward; a view of the future.

   Synonyms:

   foreknowledge

5. Surveying.

   1. a sight or reading taken on a forward point.

   2. (in leveling) a rod reading on a point the elevation of which is to be determined.

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foresight British  

/ ˈfɔːˌsaɪt /

noun

1. provision for or insight into future problems, needs, etc

2. the act or ability of foreseeing

3. the act of looking forward

4. surveying a reading taken looking forwards to a new station, esp in levelling from a point of known elevation to a point the elevation of which is to be determined Compare backsight

5. the front sight on a firearm

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Synonym Usage

See prudence.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• foresightedness
  noun
• foresighted
  adjective
• foresightful
  adjective
• foresightedly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• foresights
  plural

Etymology

Origin of foresight

First recorded in 1250–1300, foresight is from the Middle English word forsight. See fore-, sight

Explanation

Use the noun foresight to describe successful planning for the future. When it starts raining hard during your long walk to school, you'll wish you had the foresight to bring an umbrella. The word foresight is made of two parts: fore, which means "before," and sight, which means "to perceive." People often perceive things with their eyes: this is vision, or sight. But vision can also describe what someone thinks will happen in the future — and foresight is planning for things before they happen.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foresight foresights

Those who hope to unplug on Friday evening with no foresight will likely find themselves restless.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

Now, there’s a question of hindsight versus foresight.

From Slate ● May 5, 2026

No one saw that coming when shares were spun out of GE on April 2, 2024, after Larry Culp had the foresight to break up General Electric.

From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026

They require planning, foresight and smart people, including women and minorities, to win — and even then, only if you’re quite lucky.

From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2026

In Tjaden this is voracity, in Müller it is foresight.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque

Most of my work deals with the next 5 years, and it’s more about pretty obvious foresights rather than ‘predictions’.

From Forbes ● Jul. 8, 2014

"You can't seem to account for them foresights," continued Mr. Teaby, putting down his tall, thin valise and letting the empty top of it fold over.

From Strangers and Wayfarers by Sarah Orne Jewett

I milk-ed the lowing kine and water-ed and fed the steed, and then, after my fru-gal repast, I clos-ed the man-si-on, shutting out all re-collections of the past and also foresights into the future.

From Rudder Grange by Frank Richard Stockton

"How would Black, by turning in some wrong backsights and foresights, expect to delay the building of the road, even if he wanted to do it?"

From The Young Engineers in Colorado Or, At Railwood Building in Earnest by H. Irving (Harrie Irving) Hancock

If this life on the earth, where man feels himself a stranger, be his all, how superfluously he is equipped with foresights and longings that outrun every conceivable limit!

From The Destiny of the Soul A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life by William Rounseville Alger

Related Words

• insight
• prudence