foretell

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fortellen, also foretellen,^[2] formed from English fore- + tell.^[3][4][5][6] Barnhart considers that it was probably modelled on Latin praedīcō (“to predict”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To tell of something before it happens; to predict or prophesy: the first record is in the Cursor Mundi, a poem dated before 1325 and quoted by the OED from a manuscript of before 1400.^[3][7] Etymonline dates the verb to about 1300,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1250–1300.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From its first records the verb also meant to tell someone something in advance, either informing or ordering them, and could be used without an object in the sense "to utter a prophecy"; both uses died out in the 17th century.^[3][4] A shift from people to things appears around 1600, when signs and appearances are said to foretell what is coming.^[3][4] Johnson (1755) records all three: "to predict; to prophesy", illustrated from Shakespeare's Henry VI ("What art thou, whose heavy looks foretell Some dreadful story hanging on thy tongue?"), "to foretoken; to foreshow", and, without an object, "to utter prophecy".^[9]

Timeline

• before 1325 – to tell of an event beforehand, to predict or prophesy; also to tell or enjoin beforehand, and, without an object, to prophesy.^[3][7]
• before 1616 – of things, to indicate the approach of, to foreshadow, in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3.^[3] The Shorter Oxford dates this sense to the late 16th century.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To say what will happen before it does; to predict or prophesy: No one could foretell how the vote would go.^[2][3][4]
2. Of things, to give advance notice of; to foreshadow or presage: The falling barometer foretold a storm.^[3][4]
3. (obsolete, before 1400–1642) To tell or instruct someone beforehand.^[3][2]
4. (obsolete, before 1400–1667) Without an object, to utter a prediction; to prophesy.^[3][2][4]

Word family

• foreteller

Related words

• tell
• predict

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
7. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.