heretofore
Americanadverb
adverb
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of heretofore
1300–50; Middle English heretoforn, equivalent to here here + toforn, Old English tōforan ( tō to + foran before; see fore 1)
Explanation
When someone says heretofore, they're describing things that have happened up to the present moment. This formal word means "thus far" and often appears in legal or other official documents. This is an old-fashioned word, but it refers to something timeless — events in the past that have gone on until now. To sell a new shoe, an advertiser could say, "Heretofore, there has never been a shoe like this." After a disaster, someone could say, "Heretofore, we never experienced such a catastrophe." This word draws a line in the sand between the past and the present. This word means about the same as as yet and until now.
Vocabulary lists containing heretofore
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards
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Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
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Votes for Women!
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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.
“Voters continue to believe that federal spending consists of vastly more waste, fraud and abuse than researchers and auditors have heretofore been able to identify,” reports the Reagan Institute in its latest national economic survey.
From MarketWatch • May 28, 2026
"Beijing has heretofore tolerated this practice, but the Manus case marks a major turning point" as the US-China AI race heats up, she told AFP.
From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026
A management pratfall to spoil Netflix’s heretofore reputation as a maker of smart moves?
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 9, 2025
People laugh as a psychological defense mechanism when confronted by a reality that they cannot reconcile and resolve with their expectation of what they heretofore deemed to be normal.
From Salon • Feb. 9, 2024
The prestige-competition, heretofore mostly economic, might force Karhide to emulate its larger neighbor, to become a nation instead of a family quarrel, as Estraven had said; to become, as Estraven had also said, patriotic.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
