Meanings
present singular third person forwarns · participle present forwarning · participle past forwarned · past forwarned · alternative forewarn
- transitiveTo prohibit; forbid; deny (right, access to, etc.).
I meet the Workman by Mr. Pemberton's Gate, and forewarn him from making of it; [...]
1708, Samuel Sewall, Diary2 more examples
Oh Cousin this wicked Duoena, this Grycta suspects the good Woman who brought the Letter, and has forwarn'd her the House.
1690, Thomas Shadwell, The amorous bigotte[...] having been caught putting the inside of the master's desk to a use for which the architect had clearly not designed it, to justify himself, with great simplicity averred, that he did not know that the thing had been forewarned.
1840, Charles Lamb, Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, The works of Charles Lamb
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*wer-“to close, cover, protect, defend”
- Proto-Germanic*fra-
- Old Englishforwærnan
- Middle Englishforwernen
- Englishforwarn
From Middle English forwernen, from Old English forwærnan, forwoernan, forwiernan (“to hinder, prohibit, prevent, repel, refuse, repudiate, deny, withhold, oppose”), from Proto-Germanic *fra-, *fur-, *far- (“for-”) + *warnijaną (“to care, worry”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to close, cover, protect, defend”), equivalent to for- + warn (“to deny, refuse, forbid”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
forwarn. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forwarn
“forwarn.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forwarn. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forwarn,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forwarn.
Source: forwarn on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.