forewarn

Etymology

It is formed from English fore- + warn.^[2][3][4] The Middle English forms were forwarnen and forewarnen, from warnen (“to warn”).^[5][6] The base verb goes back to Old English warnian (“to give notice of danger”), from Proto-Germanic *warnōną.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To warn beforehand: about 1330, in R. Mannyng's Chronicle, “Þe bisshop þouht treson, for warned was Henry”.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 14th century,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1300–50.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The verb is constructed with of, with an infinitive or with a that clause.^[2] A second sense, to announce beforehand or prophesy, appears in 1582 in Stanyhurst's Virgil: “Forwarns much mischiefe too coom”.^[2] The OED calls this sense obsolete,^[2] while the Shorter Oxford calls it rare and has a modern example from the Daily Telegraph.^[4] Johnson (1755) separated "to admonish beforehand", "to inform previously of any future event" and "to caution against any thing beforehand", quoting Luke, Milton and Shakespeare.^[9] Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI has “We were forewarned of your coming”,^[4] and the word lives on in the proverb forewarned is forearmed.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – to warn or caution beforehand.^[2][3]
• 1582 – to announce beforehand, to prophesy.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To warn or caution someone in advance: Her neighbours forewarned her not to trust the landlord.^[5][2][4]
2. To give someone notice of something beforehand: Scouts had forewarned the camp of the coming storm.^[5][9][2]
3. (rare) To announce beforehand; to prophesy.^[2][4]

Word family

• forewarner
• forewarningly

Related words

• fore-
• foresight
• foretell
• forethought
• warn

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.