Meanings
- formalnot comparabletemporalBefore now, until now, up to the present time; from the beginning to this point.
He had more liberty now than he'd known heretofore.
3 more examples
We now make available these works which were heretofore unpublished.
For quotations using this term, see Citations:heretofore.
The Permanent Way: Britain's Railroads in the Making. By Horace Greenleaf and G. Tyers. […]There is no doubt that the permanent way has failed heretofore to attract popular interest to an extent comparable with its importance, but possibly the publicity given recently to various forms of experiment is tending to change this.
1948 September and October, “Railway Literature”, in Railway Magazine, page 351Synonyms: hitherto, as yet, as of yet, erenow, herebefore, hereto, heretoforetime, hereunto · Antonyms: hereafter, henceforth
- not comparablePreviously within the present text; earlier herein.
heretofore mentioned
1 more example
heretofore referred to as
Synonyms: hereinabove, hereabove, hereinbefore, herebefore · Antonyms: hereinafter, hereinunder, hereafter, hereunder, hereforth, henceforth
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbBefore now, until now, up to the present time; from the beginning to this point.
adverbPreviously within the present text; earlier herein.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbused in negative statement to describe a situation that has existed up to this point or up to the present time
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishtōforan“before”
- Middle Englishheretoforn
- Englishheretofore
From Middle English heretoforn, equivalent to here (“here”) + toforn (“before”), from Old English tōforan (“before”). More at here, tofore.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic حَتَّى الْآن, حتّى اللحظة الراهنة
- حَتَّى الْآن (ḥattā l-ʔān)up to the present time
- حتّى اللحظة الراهنةup to the present time
Bulgarian досега́
- досега́ (dosegá)up to the present time
Catalan fins ara
- fins araup to the present time
Czech dosud
- dosudup to the present time
Dutch hiertevoren
- hiertevorenup to the present time
Finnish tähän asti, tähän saakka
- tähän astiup to the present time
- tähän saakkaup to the present time
- aiemminup to the present time
- ennenup to the present time
French jusqu'alors, jusqu'ici
- jusqu'alorsup to the present time
- jusqu'iciup to the present time
German bislang, vordem
- bislangup to the present time
- vordemup to the present time
Italian prima d'ora
- prima d'oraup to the present time
Japanese これまで
- これまで (koremade)up to the present time
Norwegian Bokmål hittil
- hittilup to the present time
Polish dotychczas
- dotychczasup to the present time
Portuguese até agora
- até agoraup to the present time
Russian пре́жде, до этого
- пре́жде (préžde)up to the present time
- до этого (do etovo)up to the present time
- ра́ньше (ránʹše)up to the present time
- досе́ле (doséle)up to the present time
- доны́не (donýne)up to the present time
Spanish anteriormente, previamente
- anteriormenteup to the present time
- previamenteup to the present time
- hasta la fechaup to the present time
- hasta ahoraup to the present time
Swedish hittills, tidigare
- hittillsup to the present time
- tidigareup to the present time
Turkish şimdiye kadar
- şimdiye kadarup to the present time
Cite this entry
heretofore. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heretofore
“heretofore.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heretofore. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heretofore,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heretofore.
Source: heretofore on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.