foresight

English

Etymology

From Middle English forsight, forsyght, forsichte (since 14th c.), a calque from providentia equivalent to fore- +‎ sight. Compare Scots foresicht (“foresight”), Saterland Frisian Foarsicht (“caution”), West Frisian foarútsjoch (“foresight”), Dutch voorzicht (“foresight”), German Vorsicht (“caution; care; attention”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹsaɪt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːsaɪt/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈfo(ː)ɹsaɪt/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈfoəsaɪt/
• Homophone: Forsythe (in accents with the horse-hoarse merger)
• Hyphenation: fore‧sight

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

foresight (countable and uncountable, plural foresights)

1. The ability to foresee or prepare wisely for the future.

   Having the foresight to prepare an evacuation plan may have saved their lives.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 1:

     The rugged forhead that with graue foreſight / Welds kingdomes cauſes, & affaires of ſtate; […]

   • 1822, John Barclay, chapter I, in An Inquiry Into the Opinions, Ancient and Modern, Concerning Life and Organization‎^[1], Edinburgh, London: Bell & Bradfute; Waugh & Innes; G. & W. B. Whittaker, section I, page 2:

     In the dead state all is apparently without motion. No agent within indicates design, intelligence, or foresight: […]

   • 2020 May 20, Industry Insider, “An online boost for freight”, in Rail, page 68:

     The specifiers of the Freightliner network had the foresight to base the rail journey on carrying ISO containers which are 8ft wide and originally 8ft tall (although now increased to a height of 9ft 6ins), with a variety of lengths.

2. the front sight on a rifle or similar weapon
3. (surveying) a bearing taken forwards towards a new object

Synonyms

• (ability to foresee or prepare wisely for the future): prescience, foreknowledge, divination, clairvoyance, prophecy

Antonyms

• hindsight

Derived terms

• foresighted
• foresightly
• foresighty

Related terms

• foresee
• backsight

Translations

ability to foresee or prepare wisely for the future

• Azerbaijani: bəsirət, uzaqgörənlik
• Belarusian: прадба́чанне n (pradbáčannje)
• Bulgarian: предвиждане (bg) n (predviždane), предвидливост (bg) f (predvidlivost)
• Catalan: previsió (ca) f, clarividència (ca) f, presciència f, endevinació (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 先見之明／先见之明 (zh) (xiānjiànzhīmíng), 先見／先见 (zh) (xiānjiàn)

• Czech: prozíravost f, předvídavost f
• Danish: fremsynthed c
• Dutch: voorzichtigheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: antaŭvido
• Finnish: kaukokatseisuus (fi), harkitsevuus (fi)
• French: clairvoyance (fr) f, prévoyance (fr) f, prescience (fr) f
• Georgian: წინდახედულობა (c̣indaxeduloba), შორსმჭვრეტელობა (šorsmč̣vreṭeloba), წინასწარ განჭვრეტა (c̣inasc̣ar ganč̣vreṭa), გამჭრიახობა (gamč̣riaxoba), წინასწარგანჭვრეტა (c̣inasc̣arganč̣vreṭa)
• German: Voraussicht (de) f, Hellsichtigkeit f, Weitsicht (de) f
• Greek: πρόνοια (el) f (prónoia)

  Ancient: πρόνοια f (prónoia)

• Irish: fadbhreathnaitheacht f, fadcheann m
• Italian: lungimiranza (it) f, preveggenza f, avvedimento m
• Japanese: 先見 (ja) (せんけん, senken), 予見 (ja) (よけん, yoken)
• Maori: matakite
• Plautdietsch: Väasecht f
• Polish: dalekowzroczność (pl) f, przezorność (pl) f, zapobiegliwość (pl) f
• Portuguese: presciência (pt) f
• Romanian: previziune (ro)
• Russian: предви́дение (ru) n (predvídenije), предусмотри́тельность (ru) f (predusmotrítelʹnostʹ)
• Slovak: predvídavosť, prezieravosť
• Spanish: previsión (es) f, profecía (es) f, adivinación (es), clarividencia (es) f, presciencia (es) f
• Swedish: framsynthet (sv) c
• Turkish: öngörü (tr)
• Ukrainian: передба́чення (uk) n (peredbáčennja), передба́чливість (uk) f (peredbáčlyvistʹ)
• Volapük: büologam (vo)

front sight on weapon

• Azerbaijani: arpacıq (az)
• Bulgarian: мушка (bg) f (muška)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 準星／准星 (zh) (zhǔnxīng)

• Finnish: etutähtäin
• Greek: στόχαστρο (el) n (stóchastro)
• Japanese: 照星 (しょうせい, shōsei)
• Polish: muszka (pl) f
• Russian: му́шка (ru) f (múška), визи́р (ru) m (vizír)

Anagrams

• gift horse