foreshow

F4O1R1E1S1H4O1W4
UK/fɔːˈʃəʊ/UK/fɔəˈʃəʊ/UK/ˈfɔːʃəʊ/UK/ˈfɔəʃəʊ/

verb

To show in advance; to foretell, predict.

Scrabble 17

Meanings

foreshow1

verbforeshow (third-person singular simple present foreshows, present participle foreshowing, simple past foreshowed, past participle foreshown)

present singular third person foreshows · participle present foreshowing · past foreshowed · participle past foreshown · alternative foreshew

  1. archaictransitiveTo show in advance; to foretell, predict.

    What could the soothsayer foreshow that we knew not before? The future is written in the past; and if we prophesy, it is with eyes that look behind.

    1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 314
    1 more example

    Amid his senses' giddy wheel, / Did he not desperate impulse feel, / Headlong to plunge himself below, / And meet the worst his fears foreshow?— […]

    1810, Walter Scott, “Canto II. The Island.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza XXXI, pages 85–86
  2. obsoletetransitiveTo foreshadow or prefigure.

    But if the rays break forth out of the middle, or dispersed, and its exterior body, or the out parts of it, be covered with clouds, it foreshows great tempests both of wind and rain.

    1841, Francis Bacon, Basil Montagu, The Works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England

foreshow2

nounforeshow (plural foreshows)

plural foreshows

  1. obsoleteA manifestation in advance; a prior indication.

    The fore-shew of their inclination whilest they are young is so uncertaine […] that it is very hard, (yea for the wisest) to ground any certaine judgement […].

    , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.139

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

foreshow · verb

  1. Old Englishforescēawian“to foreshow, foresee; preordain, decree, appoint; provide, furnish with”
  2. Middle Englishforeschewen
  3. Englishforeshow

From Middle English foreschewen, from Old English forescēawian (“to foreshow, foresee; preordain, decree, appoint; provide, furnish with”), equivalent to fore- + show. Cognate with Dutch voorschouwen, German vorschauen.

Full word history & related roots →

foreshow · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*pr̥h₂éy
  4. Proto-Germanic*furai
  5. Proto-Germanic*furai-
  6. Proto-West Germanic*forē-
  7. Old Englishfore-
  8. Middle Englishfore-
  9. Englishfore-
  10. Englishshow
  11. Englishforeshow

From fore- + show.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with foreshow

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

foreshow. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foreshow

MLA

“foreshow.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foreshow. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “foreshow,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foreshow.

Source: foreshow on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.