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

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

From Slate ● May 5, 2026

“Financial markets are reacting to the geopolitical back-and-forth with a sense of foresight, which currently reduces the pressure on central banks to act,” analysts at Raiffeisen Bank said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

"It's the foresight these people had. How did they see how it was going to become popular?"

From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2026

In an unusual bit of foresight, Congress understood as far back as 1999 that banking organizations needed expanded powers and, most importantly, expanded technology powers if they were to compete with nonbanks.

From Barron's ● Dec. 19, 2025

“How dare you get angry at me—as if your lack of foresight is my fault!”

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

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

It was, perhaps, one of those strange mental foresights, peculiar to certain temperaments, whereby the individual is sometimes warned of impending danger, and feels oppressed by a weight of despondency impossible to shake off.

From Ella Barnwell A Historical Romance of Border Life by Bennett, Emerson

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 Stockton, Frank Richard

He dressed and breakfasted with all the petty foresights that can mean the shaving of clearance in a tight squeeze, and got off with all the margin of time he could muster.

From A Matter of Proportion by Walker, Anne

They are the outgrowth of spiritual reality, as well as of human experience; they repeat the foregleams and foresights of a "far-off divine event, To which the whole creation moves."

From George Eliot; a Critical Study of Her Life, Writings & Philosophy by Cooke, George Willis

Related Words

• insight
• prudence