foretell

[ fawr-tel, fohr- ]

See synonyms for: foretell foretelling foretold foreteller on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),fore·told, fore·tell·ing.

to tell of beforehand; predict; prophesy.

Origin of foretell

First recorded in 1250–1300, foretell is from the Middle English word fortell.See fore-, tell¹

Other words for foretell

forecast, augur, presage, forebode

See synonyms for foretell on Thesaurus.com

Other words from foretell

fore·tell·er, noun
un·fore·told, adjective

Words Nearby foretell

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use foretell in a sentence

There are also players who didn’t have much of a role last season but managed to showcase their talents in this year’s Summer League — possibly foretelling good things.
Some NBA Summer League Stars Look ‘Too Good’ To Be There. What Does That Mean For Their Futures? | Jared Dubin | August 25, 2021 | FiveThirtyEight
Its survival now foretells the fate of the oceans’ ecological health.
Twilight of the Nautilus - Issue 104: Harmony | Peter Ward | August 11, 2021 | Nautilus
On Thursday, Twitter posts and news reports foretold the public’s anxiety that this song would add insult to this week’s shame.
A Notoriously Hateful Japanese Composer’s Music Just Opened the Tokyo Olympics | Jake Adelstein, Chihiro Kai | July 23, 2021 | The Daily Beast
Downgrade teams that exit early from their conference tournamentsThere was a time when winning your conference tournament foretold March Madness success.
March Madness bracket pool tips: A beginner’s guide to the 2021 NCAA tournament | Neil Greenberg | March 18, 2021 | Washington Post
There was a mid-1960s spike in college closures that foretold a new era of austerity for which students and parents would pay the price.
Even forgiving student loans won’t solve the higher education funding crisis | Elizabeth Shermer | January 22, 2021 | Washington Post

All was not well, and how it would end, even this master politician could not foretell.
Robert Caro’s New Yorker Essay: 7 New Insights Into LBJ | Matthew DeLuca | March 26, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
This year there has been only one fuzzy paparazzi photo of the pair and even it seemed to foretell the end.
Clooney Breakup’s Red Flags | Barbie Latza Nadeau | June 23, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
The growing theme of anti-establishment sites might just foretell the months ahead.
Spain Protests Claim 'European Summer' Follows Arab Spring | Barbie Latza Nadeau, Mike Elkin | May 28, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
Human sagacity cannot explain these facts as they exist to-day, much less could it foretell them three thousand years ago.
Gospel Philosophy | J. H. Ward
I can read thought, I can foretell the future, and I can sometimes make things happen fortunately, if I try very hard.
Valley of the Croen | Lee Tarbell
You claim to read minds and foretell the future, and you do not understand that she is fine and honest and utterly admirable!
Valley of the Croen | Lee Tarbell
I cannot remember that either Sakya Muni or any of his followers assumed the power to foretell the future.
Ancient Faiths And Modern | Thomas Inman
The country was on the very brink of a civil war, of which no man could foretell the duration or the result.
Select Speeches of Daniel Webster | Daniel Webster

British Dictionary definitions for foretell

foretell

/ (fɔːˈtɛl) /

verb-tells, -telling or -told

(tr; may take a clause as object) to tell or indicate (an event, a result, etc) beforehand; predict

Derived forms of foretell

foreteller, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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