Foresee

//fɔɹˈsi// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To perceive (a situation or event) in advance.

    "A prudent man foreſeeth the euill, and hideth himſelfe: but the ſimple paſſe on, and are puniſhed."

  2. 2
    realize beforehand wordnet
  3. 3
    To provide. obsolete

    "Great shoals of people, which go on to populate, without foreseeing means of life."

  4. 4
    picture to oneself; imagine possible wordnet
  5. 5
    act in advance of; deal with ahead of time wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
anticipateanticipateenvisionapprehendapproachaugur

Example

More examples

"The aim of science is, as has often been said, to foresee, not to understand."

Etymology

From Middle English foreseen, forseen, from Old English foresēon; equivalent to fore- + see. Similar formations in Dutch voorzien, German vorsehen, Latin prōvideō, (whence provide and purvey), Ancient Greek πρόοιδα (próoida), Polish przewidzieć, Russian провидеть (providetʹ).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.