foretaste
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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foretastesimple
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foretastessimple
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have foretastedperfect
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has foretastedperfect
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am foretastingprogressive
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are foretastingprogressive
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is foretastingprogressive
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have been foretastingperfect progressive
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has been foretastingperfect progressive
Past
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foretastedsimple
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had foretastedperfect
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was foretastingprogressive
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were foretastingprogressive
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had been foretastingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of foretaste
First recorded in 1400–50, foretaste is from the late Middle English word fortaste. See fore-, taste
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:
That is a foretaste of what analysts say will be a growing pool of debt tied to data centers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2025
In a foretaste of his behaviour during his Old Bailey trials, Gordon tried to sack his lawyer and said he was too sick to attend court.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2025
That applies whether you think the current troubles are just a blip or a foretaste of the job losses that technological changes are bringing to the industry, she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2024
“But if this a foretaste of the feast to come, then we’re in massive trouble.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 26, 2023
I wondered if this was a foretaste of the incomprehension I had been promised.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
As spare and considered as their Morton Feldman score, these solos aren’t just foretastes of 1960s Judson Dance Theater; they could easily be the work of a present-day postmodernist like Beth Gill.
From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2022
Thus before the great change takes place the nymph has foretastes of the aerial mode of breathing which it will practise when the perfect stage shall have been attained.
From The Life-Story of Insects by Carpenter, George H. (George Herbert)
These distant and prolonged separations seem like foretastes of death....
From Records of a Girlhood by Kemble, Fanny
They can prove to you how abundantly able he is to reward all trust and service, giving foretastes of heavenly bliss even in the midst of earthly warfare.
From A Knight of the Nineteenth Century by Roe, Edward Payson
No act of holy obedience is here left without foretastes of joy, which, though they be but 'brooks by the way,' contain the same water of life which hereafter swells to an ocean.
From Expositions of Holy Scripture : St. Matthew Chaps. IX to XXVIII by Maclaren, Alexander
At the same time, Auburn University officials say the school is expected to maintain consistent undergraduate enrollment at about 25,000 students with no significant growth foretasted.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 10, 2019
Adam foretasted comfort for himself and his descendants.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
In that lonely little closet of his, Pierre foretasted all that this world hath either of praise or dispraise; and thus foretasting both goblets, anticipatingly hurled them both in its teeth.
From Pierre; or The Ambiguities by Melville, Herman
For a moment, in the joy of anticipation, a strange light illuminated his face, his lips parted as in a foretasted wonder, and he forgot even to drop the hand he had just withdrawn.
From The Little City of Hope A Christmas Story by Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)
The old author long ago foretasted this, who wrote,—"The divine arts of printing and gunpowder have frightened away Robin Goodfellow, and all the fairies."
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 55, May, 1862 by Various
"Am I the sun, dear?" he asked, foretasting the delight of listening to her simple answer.
From The Witch of Prague by Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)
And foretasting the joy of approaching triumph, they, with silent consent, invited Judas to decide the matter.
From The Crushed Flower and Other Stories by Bernstein, Herman
In that lonely little closet of his, Pierre foretasted all that this world hath either of praise or dispraise; and thus foretasting both goblets, anticipatingly hurled them both in its teeth.
From Pierre; or The Ambiguities by Melville, Herman
She was already foretasting the dreariness of life without the critical, corrective, and withal stimulating presence of her elder child.
From Kildares of Storm by Kelly, Eleanor Mercein
Even our soberer thoughts are very much given to following the possible fortunes of some enterprise, and foretasting the satisfactions of love and ambition.
From The Sense of Beauty Being the Outlines of Aesthetic Theory by Santayana, George
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.
