Meanings
comparative more unforeseeable · superlative most unforeseeable
- Incapable of being foreseen or anticipated.
Traincrew management has always been a bit of a black art, rather than a science. The present traincrew difficulties that beset the UK rail industry are neither new nor were they unforeseeable.
2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 321 more example
The proposition that socialism can only come about by revolution thus becomes a tautology; Jaurès failed to notice this, and dismissed the question as to what form the revolution would take as a barren speculation relating to the unforeseeable future.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 138Synonyms: imprevisible, unforetellable · Antonyms: foreseeable, foretellable, previsible, predictable, anticipable, anticipatable
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveIncapable of being foreseen or anticipated.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveincapable of being anticipated
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Englishforeseeable
- Englishunforeseeable
From un- + foreseeable.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian непредвиди́м
- непредвиди́м (nepredvidím)incapable of being foreseen
Catalan imprevisible
- imprevisibleincapable of being foreseen
Chinese Mandarin 無法預見的 /无法预见的, 不可預見的 /不可预见的
- 無法預見的 /无法预见的 (wúfǎ yùjiàn de)incapable of being foreseen
- 不可預見的 /不可预见的 (bù kě yùjiàn de)incapable of being foreseen
- 無法預料的 /无法预料的 (wúfǎ yùliào de)incapable of being foreseen
Czech nepředvídatelný
- nepředvídatelnýincapable of being foreseen
Danish uforudseelig, uforudselig
- uforudseeligincapable of being foreseen
- uforudseligincapable of being foreseen
Dutch onvoorzienbaar
- onvoorzienbaarincapable of being foreseen
Esperanto neantaŭvidebla
- neantaŭvideblaincapable of being foreseen
Finnish ennalta-arvaamaton
- ennalta-arvaamatonincapable of being foreseen
French imprévisible
- imprévisibleincapable of being foreseen
German unvorhersehbar
- unvorhersehbarincapable of being foreseen
Greek απρόβλεπτος
- απρόβλεπτος (apróvleptos)incapable of being foreseen
Hungarian előre nem látható, előreláthatatlan
- előre nem láthatóincapable of being foreseen
- előreláthatatlanincapable of being foreseen
Italian imprevedibile, imprevisibile
- imprevedibileincapable of being foreseen
- imprevisibileincapable of being foreseen
Polish nieprzewidywalny, nieobliczalny
- nieprzewidywalnyincapable of being foreseen
- nieobliczalnyincapable of being foreseen
Portuguese imprevisível
- imprevisívelincapable of being foreseen
Russian непредви́денный
- непредви́денный (nepredvídennyj)incapable of being foreseen
Slovak nepredvídateľný
- nepredvídateľnýincapable of being foreseen
Spanish imprevisible
- imprevisibleincapable of being foreseen
Swedish oförutsebar
- oförutsebarincapable of being foreseen
Ukrainian непередба́чуваний, непередба́чливий
- непередба́чуваний (neperedbáčuvanyj)incapable of being foreseen
- непередба́чливий (neperedbáčlyvyj)incapable of being foreseen
Cite this entry
unforeseeable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unforeseeable
“unforeseeable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unforeseeable. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unforeseeable,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unforeseeable.
Source: unforeseeable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.