foreshadowing

English

Verb

foreshadowing

1. present participle of foreshadow

Noun

foreshadowing (plural foreshadowings)

1. (authorship, usually uncountable) A literary device whereby an author drops hints or symbolic representations of plot developments to come later in the story.

   The roses blooming before Rose herself bloomed was excellent foreshadowing.

   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas:

     As an experienced editor I disapprove of backflashes, foreshadowings and tricksy devices […]

Translations

literary device

• Finnish: ennakointi (fi)
• French: augure (fr) m, présage (fr) m
• German: Vorahnung (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 伏線 (ja) (ふくせん, fukusen)
• Turkish: önceden ima etme