foresee

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English foreseen, also forseen,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English foresēon (“to see beforehand; to provide”),^[5][2][6][7] formed from Old English fore- (“before”) + sēon (“to see”).^[5][2][3][8] Etymonline suggests it may have been modelled on Latin prōvideō (“to foresee, provide”),^[8] and Bosworth–Toller glosses it with praevideō as well as with the same Latin verb.^[6] There are similar formations in Dutch voorzien and German vorsehen.^[8][5] The Shorter Oxford thinks the word was perhaps partly formed again in the 16th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To see beforehand, to know in advance: in the Old English Paris Psalter, where Ðú ealle míne wegas wel fóresáwe renders the Latin omnes vias meas praevidisti of Psalm 138 (139).^[6][5] The Old English translation of Bede also used it for providing or seeing to something beforehand.^[5][6] Barnhart dates the Middle English verb to about 1384.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old English used the verb both for seeing ahead and, like Latin prōvidēre, for providing or taking care beforehand;^[6][5] the second use lasted until the mid-17th century (1637, 1642).^[5][7][9] Several narrower uses came and went in early modern English: foreseen that for "provided that" (1434–1607), an intransitive sense "to take precautions, make provision" (1551–1626), and in Scots "to inspect or consider beforehand" (1592–1650).^[5][9] Johnson (1755) gave only the surviving sense: "to see beforehand; to see what has not yet happened; to have prescience; to foreknow".^[10] The derivative foreseeable is recorded from 1804.^[4]

Timeline

• Old English – to see beforehand; also to provide, see to beforehand.^[5][6]
• c. 1384 – Middle English forsen.^[4]
• 1434 – foreseen that, provided that (obsolete after 1607).^[5]
• 1551 – intransitive, to take precautions, make provision (obsolete after 1626).^[5][9]
• 1592 – Scots, to see or inspect beforehand (obsolete after 1650).^[5]
• 1804 – the derivative foreseeable.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To know or expect that something will happen before it does; to anticipate or predict: Nobody foresaw how quickly the river would rise.^[11][12][2]
2. (obsolete, Old English–1642) To provide for or against something in advance.^[2][5][7]
3. (obsolete, 1551–1626) To exercise foresight; to take precautions.^[2][5][7]
4. (obsolete, 1592–1650) To see, meet or consider beforehand.^[2][5]

Word family

• foreseeable
• foreseer
• foreseeability

Related words

• see
• foresight
• unforeseen
• foreknow

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press