Forewit

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Timely knowledge; precaution; foresight. countable, uncountable

    "One good forewit is worth two afterwits."

  2. 2
    One who puts himself forward as a leader in matters of taste or criticism.
Verb
  1. 1
    To foreknow. obsolete, transitive

Example

More examples

"One good forewit is worth two afterwits."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English forwit, from Old English *forewit, *forewitt (attested in derivative forewitiġ, forewittiġ (“foreknowing”)), equivalent to fore- + wit (“knowledge, understanding”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English forwiten, from Old English fōrewitan (“to foreknow”), equivalent to fore- + wit (“to know”).

Etymology 3

From fore- (“prominent, out in front”) + wit (“a clever man”).

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