forego

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fɔːˈɡəʊ/
• Homophone: forgo

Etymology 1

From Middle English forgan, from Old English foregān, equivalent to fore- +‎ go.

Verb

forego (third-person singular simple present foregoes, present participle foregoing, simple past forewent, past participle foregone)

1. To precede, to go before.
   • Wordsworth

     pleasing remembrance of a thought foregone

Usage notes

• The sense to precede is usually found in the form of the participles foregone (especially in the phrase "a foregone conclusion") and foregoing (usually used either attributively, as in "the foregoing discussion", or substantively, as in "subject to the foregoing").

Translations

precede — see precede

Etymology 2

See forgo

Verb

forego (third-person singular simple present foregoes, present participle foregoing, simple past forewent, past participle foregone)

1. Alternative spelling of forgo; to abandon, to relinquish
   • 1762 Waller, T. The White Witch of the Wood, or the Devil of Broxbon, in The Beauties of all the Magazines Selected, for the Year 1762, Vol. I (February), page 34:

     […] for on no other terms does she desire a reconciliation, but will sooner forego all the hopes to which her birth entitles her, and get her bread by service, than ever yield to become the wife of the ——.

Usage notes

• Many writers prefer the spelling forgo for this sense, on the grounds that it avoids ambiguity with forego "to precede," especially in aspects such as "forgoing"/"foregoing" and "forgone"/"foregone."

References

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

Anagrams

• goofer