Foretoken
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A prognostic; a premonitory sign; warning or presentiment.
"Therefore know you Gentlemen (to whom from my harte I wish that it may not proue ominous foretoke[n] of misfortune to haue mette with such a miser as I am) that whatsoeuer my sonne (ô God, that trueth binds me to reproch him with the name of my sonne) hath said, is true."
- 2 an event that is experienced as indicating important things to come wordnet
- 1 To betoken beforehand; prognosticate; foreshadow; give warning of; presage. transitive
Example
More examples"Therefore know you Gentlemen (to whom from my harte I wish that it may not proue ominous foretoke[n] of misfortune to haue mette with such a miser as I am) that whatsoeuer my sonne (ô God, that trueth binds me to reproch him with the name of my sonne) hath said, is true."
Etymology
From Middle English foretokne, fortacne, from Old English foretācn, foretācen (“foretoken, presage, prognostic, prodigy, sign, wonder”), equivalent to fore- + token. Cognate with Dutch voorteken, German Low German Vörteken, German Vorzeichen.
From Middle English *foretoknen, fortaknen, from Old English foretācnian (“to foreshow”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.