foretell
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
c. 1300, from Middle English foretellen, equivalent to fore- + tell.
Pronunciation
- enPR: fôr-tĕlʹ, IPA(key): /fɔɹˈtɛl/
- (General Australian) IPA(key):
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key):
- (US) IPA(key):
Audio (US) (file)
- Rhymes: -ɛl
- Hyphenation: fore‧tell
Verb
foretell (third-person singular simple present foretells, present participle foretelling, simple past and past participle foretold)
- (transitive, intransitive) To predict; to tell (the future) before it occurs; to prophesy.
- 1725–1726, Homer, “Book 2”, in [William Broome, Elijah Fenton, and Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. , London: Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
- Deeds then undone me faithful tongue foretold.
- 1741, Conyers Middleton, The Life of Cicero:
- Prodigies, foretelling the future eminence and lustre of his character.
- (transitive) To tell (a person) of the future.
- 1739, Edward Button, Rudiments of Ancient History:
- […] there came to him a Person named Saul, whom Samuel had never before seen; but God made him know it was the same he had foretold him of.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to predict the future
See also
References
- “foretell”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “foretell”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.