foresee

English

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).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɔɹˈsi/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /fɔːˈsiː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fore‧see
• Rhymes: -iː

Verb

foresee (third-person singular simple present foresees, present participle foreseeing, simple past foresaw, past participle foreseen)

1. To perceive (a situation or event) in advance.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 22:3:

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

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 8:

     Ariel. My Maſter through his Art foreſees the danger
     That you (his friend) are in, and ſends me forth
     (For elſe his proiect dies) to keepe them liuing.

   • 1838, Charles Dickens, The Lamplighter:

     "I foresee in this," he says, "the breaking up of our profession."

2. (obsolete) To provide.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Vicissitude of Things”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

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

Synonyms

• anticipate
• predict

Derived terms

• foreseeable

Translations

to anticipate

• Afrikaans: voorsien (af)
• Arabic: تَوَقَّعَ (tawaqqaʕa)
• Armenian: կանխատեսել (hy) (kanxatesel)
• Aromanian: prived, pruved
• Bulgarian: предвиждам (bg) (predviždam), предугаждам (predugaždam)
• Catalan: preveure (ca), pronosticar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 預知 / 预知 (zh) (yùzhī), 預見 / 预见 (zh) (yùjiàn)

• Czech: předvídat (cs)
• Danish: forudse (da)
• Dutch: voorzien (nl)
• Esperanto: antaŭvidi
• Finnish: aavistaa (fi), nähdä ennalta, ennustaa (fi)
• French: prévoir (fr), anticiper (fr)
• Galician: prever (gl)
• German: vorhersehen (de), voraussehen (de)
• Hebrew: לצפות
• Hungarian: előre lát (hu)
• Icelandic: sjá fyrir
• Indonesian: memperkirakan (id)
• Italian: prevedere (it)
• Japanese: 予見する (ja) (よけんする, yoken suru), 予測する (ja) (よそくする, yosoku suru), 見越す (ja) (みこす, mikosu), 予知する (ja) (よちする, yochi suru)
• Latin: dīvīnō, praevideō, prōvideō, prospicio
• Latvian: paredzēt (lv)
• Macedonian: предви́дува (predvíduva)
• Maori: matakite, matapae
• Norwegian: forutse (no)
• Polish: przewidywać (pl)
• Portuguese: prever (pt), prognosticar (pt)
• Quechua: t'ituy
• Romanian: prevedea (ro), anticipa (ro)
• Russian: предви́деть (ru) impf (predvídetʹ), предвосхища́ть (ru) impf (predvosxiščátʹ), предвосхи́тить (ru) pf (predvosxítitʹ), предска́зывать (ru) impf (predskázyvatʹ), предсказа́ть (ru) pf (predskazátʹ), предусма́тривать (ru) impf (predusmátrivatʹ), предусмотре́ть (ru) pf (predusmotrétʹ)
• Slovak: Predvídať
• Slovene: predvidevati, predvideti pf, slutiti
• Spanish: pronosticar (es), prever (es), antever (es)
• Swedish: förutse (sv)
• Turkish: öngörmek (tr)
• Volapük: büologön (vo)

See also

• forsee
• unforeseen