foresee

[fawr-see]

verb (used with object)

foresaw, foreseen, foreseeing. 

1. to have prescience of; to know in advance; foreknow.

   Synonyms: discern, divine

2. to see beforehand.

verb (used without object)

foresaw, foreseen, foreseeing. 

1. to exercise foresight.

foresee

/ fɔːˈsiː /

verb

1. (tr; may take a clause as object) to see or know beforehand

   he did not foresee that

Other Word Forms

• foreseeable adjective
• foreseer noun
• unforeseeing adjective
• unforeseen adjective
• well-foreseen adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of foresee¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English foresēon. See fore-, see ¹

Synonym Study

See predict.

Example Sentences

In a statement, last month, Newcastle did not even foresee the conditions of sale being met as the saga dragged on weeks after Liverpool's opening £110m bid was rejected.

From BBC

In Newcastle's counter-statement to Isak's seismic post last week, the club made clear "the conditions of a sale this summer have not transpired" before stating they did not "foresee those conditions being met".

From BBC

But she said "no information held by agencies identified a clear ability to foresee the shocking and unexpected events which occurred in April 2024".

From BBC

No wonder the club do not foresee the "conditions" of Isak's sale being met in the final throes of the window.

From BBC

Newcastle have instead held firm - rejecting a £110m bid earlier this month - and the club do not foresee the "conditions of sale" being met before the window shuts on 1 September.

From BBC

Related Words

• discern 
• envisage 
• expect 
• forecast 
• foretell 
• perceive 
• presage 

When To Use

What does foresee mean?

To foresee is to know in advance, as in With all the rain we’ve been having, it was easy to foresee that the river would overflow its banks.Foresee is different from predict or forecast because to foresee is to know, while to predict or forecast is to guess or calculate rather than to know. Sometimes, though, foresee is used as a synonym for predict to exaggerate one’s confidence in a prediction.Example: I can foresee where this is going and I want no part of it.