foretell

English

Etymology

From fore- +‎ tell. Compare Latinate premonition.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fôr-tĕlʹ, IPA: /fɔrˈtɛl/, X-SAMPA: /fOr"tEl/
  • (Australia) IPA: [foː.ˈteɫ], X-SAMPA: [fo:."te5]
  • (RP) IPA: [fɔː.ˈtɛɫ], X-SAMPA: [fO:."tE5]
  • (US) IPA: [fɔɹ.ˈtɛɫ], X-SAMPA: [fOr\."tE5]

    Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛl
• Hyphenation: fore‧tell

Verb

foretell (third-person singular simple present foretells, present participle foretelling, simple past and past participle foretold)

1. To predict; to tell the future before it occurs; to prophesy.
   • Alexander Pope

     Deeds then undone my faithful tongue foretold.

   • C. Middleton

     Prodigies, foretelling the future eminence and lustre of his character.

Derived terms

• foreteller

Translations

to predict the future

• Dutch: voorspellen (1)
• Egyptian: sr

• Finnish: ennustaa, nähdä ennalta
• French: prédire (1)
• German: vorhersagen (1)
• Indonesian: meramal (1), meramalkan (1)
• Italian: predire (it), prevedere (it)

• Japanese: 予言する (よげんする, yogen-suru) (1)
• Latin: praedico (la), divino (la), praeloquor (la)
• Norwegian: forutsi (no)
• Polish: przepowiadać, przepowiedzieć (pl)
• Russian: предсказывать (ru) (predskazyvatʹ)
• Swedish: förutspå (sv), förutsäga (sv)
• Volapük: büosagön (vo)

References

• foretell in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• foretell in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• toll-free, tollfree