Meaning & use

foretell

verb·Advanced

To predict or announce that something will happen in the future.

See it in a sentence

The old fisherman claimed he could foretell a storm just by watching the clouds.

No one could have foretold how quickly the small startup would grow.

A note on using this word

Foretell has a slightly more literary or dramatic tone than the everyday word 'predict', and often appears in stories involving prophecy or fate.

Words with a similar meaning

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