foreknowledge

American  

[fawr-nol-ij, fohr-, fawr-nol-ij, fohr-] / ˈfɔrˌnɒl ɪdʒ, ˈfoʊr-, fɔrˈnɒl ɪdʒ, foʊr- /

noun

1. knowledge of something before it exists or happens; prescience.

   Did you have any foreknowledge of the scheme?

   Synonyms:

   foresightedness, premonition, presentiment

---

Etymology

Origin of foreknowledge

First recorded in 1525–35; fore- + knowledge

Example Sentences

Expert futurists, Mr. Foster shows, disagree over how much the future lends itself to human control and foreknowledge.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2025

But the judge decided that the absence of foreknowledge was no defence, because what they did had the effect of incitement.

From BBC • Dec. 20, 2024

The result was a uLIPSTIC, a universal platform not bound by foreknowledge of molecules, ligands, or receptors.

From Science Daily • Mar. 6, 2024

A leitmotif in "Strange New Worlds" relates to Pike foreknowledge that a life-changing accident lurks in his future.

From Salon • Aug. 18, 2023

Was there some premonition, she would wonder, that made that moment so poignant, some foreknowledge that this was the last afternoon the three would ever spend together in the small cottage?

From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare