Meaning & use
foreseeable
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Possible to expect or predict in advance because it can reasonably be seen coming.
Grammar: Most often placed before a noun: a foreseeable problem.
Patterns
- a foreseeable outcome
- the foreseeable future
Delays were a foreseeable result of the road closure.
The company had no foreseeable need for extra staff.
Injury is a foreseeable risk of the sport.
adjectivecomparablelegal
In law, of a kind that a sensible person should have anticipated, so that someone can be held responsible for the harm.
Grammar: Used in legal discussion of harm and duty: harm was foreseeable.
Patterns
- it was foreseeable that something
The court decided that the injury was foreseeable.
It was foreseeable that a cracked step could cause a fall.
Foreseeable damage is the standard for many negligence claims.
Common combinations
- the foreseeable future
- Prices will stay high for the foreseeable future.
- a foreseeable consequence
- Fatigue is a foreseeable consequence of working nights.
- reasonably foreseeable
- A flood was reasonably foreseeable in that valley.
- foreseeable risk
- The firm ignored a foreseeable risk.
- foreseeable harm
- The law protects people from foreseeable harm.
Synonyms and how they differ
- predictable
- Predictable often suggests something dull because it always happens the same way, while foreseeable says it could have been anticipated.
- expected
- Expected only says people thought it would happen, whereas foreseeable stresses that it could reasonably have been predicted.
- likely
- Likely talks about probability, but foreseeable talks about whether it was possible to see coming.
- anticipated
- Anticipated means someone actually looked ahead to it, whereas foreseeable only says that they could have.
Opposites
Word family
- foresee verb
- to know or expect before it happens
- unforeseeable adjective
- impossible to predict
- unforeseen adjective
- not expected
- foreseeably adverb
- in a way that could be predicted
- foresight noun
- the ability to plan for what may come
Commonly confused: foreseeable or foreseen?
foreseeable vs foreseen
Foreseen is the past participle of foresee and says something was expected, while foreseeable says it could be expected.
Practice
The manager said the office would remain closed for the ___ future.
Choose one answer.
The set phrase is the foreseeable future. Foreseen is a participle and does not form this fixed phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “foreseeable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.