Meaning & use
foretell
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Meanings
verbtransitiveliterary
To say that something will happen before it does, often by using special insight or signs.
Grammar: Takes an object: foretell the future; foretell a disaster.
Patterns
- foretell something
- foretell that something will happen
The old woman claimed she could foretell the future from tea leaves.
Dark clouds foretold a storm.
The prophecy foretold that a king would return.
verbtransitive
To be a sign that something is coming.
Grammar: A thing, not a person, is the subject: early frost foretells a harsh winter.
Patterns
- something foretells something
The early frost foretold a long winter.
Rising prices foretold hard times.
Her first sketch foretold a great career.
Word forms
| third person singular | foretells |
|---|---|
| past tense | foretold |
| past participle | foretold |
| -ing form | foretelling |
Common combinations
- foretell the future
- Nobody can truly foretell the future.
- foretell a disaster
- The signs seemed to foretell a disaster.
- foretell doom
- The raven foretold doom in the poem.
- foretell someone's fate
- The fortune teller tried to foretell my fate.
- as the prophet foretold
- The storm arrived, as the sailor had foretold.
Synonyms and how they differ
- predict
- Predict is the everyday word and often uses evidence, while foretell sounds more mystical.
- prophesy
- Prophesy suggests a message from a god or seer, while foretell can describe any confident statement of the future.
- forecast
- Forecast suggests a calculated estimate, for example of weather or sales.
- presage
- Presage is formal and usually describes a thing that signals something coming, not a person speaking.
Word family
- foretold verb
- past tense and past participle of foretell
- foreteller noun
- a person who foretells events
- foreknowledge noun
- knowing something before it happens
- fortune-teller noun
- a person who claims to predict your future
Commonly confused: foretell or forbid?
foretell vs forbid
Forbid means to order someone not to do something. It has no link to predicting the future.
Practice
The old legend ___ that a flood would come when the river turned red.
Choose one answer.
Foretold means stated in advance what would happen. The other verbs are real words but do not fit a legend about a future flood.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “foretell”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.