Forewarning
noun, verb
noun, verb ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An advance warning; an omen. countable, uncountable
"Beatrice knew his footstep at a distance that might have defied even the acute listener of the fairy tale; and yet, with even such long forewarning, would blush crimson deep on his entrance."
- 2 an early warning about a future event wordnet
Verb
- 1 present participle and gerund of forewarn form-of, gerund, participle, present
Example
More examples"Beatrice knew his footstep at a distance that might have defied even the acute listener of the fairy tale; and yet, with even such long forewarning, would blush crimson deep on his entrance."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From forewarn + -ing.
Etymology 2
From Middle English forwarning, equivalent to forewarn + -ing or fore- + warning. Cognate with German Vorwarnung (“forewarning”), Swedish förvarning (“forewarning”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.