unforeseen

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + foreseen, the past participle of foresee.^[2][3][4][5] In Middle English it was unforsein, from forsein, the past participle of foresen.^[6] Similar formations exist in Middle Dutch onvoresien (now onvoorzien), Middle Low German unvorsēne and Middle High German unvorsēn.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not able to be foreseen: about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius (Boece), in a manuscript of before 1425, which speaks of the "cours unforseyn and unwar" of causes.^[6] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century and the Shorter Oxford to late Middle English,^[3][4] but the OED's first quotation is from Hobbes's Leviathan (1651).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to "not foreseen, unexpected".^[2][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "not known before it happened", quoting Dryden,^[7] and Webster (1828) as "not foreseen; not foreknown".^[8] It is now often used of circumstances or events that upset a plan.^[9][5] A verb unforesee, to fail to anticipate, is recorded in the 17th century.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – not able to be foreseen, in Chaucer's Boece.^[6]
• 1651 – not foreseen, in Hobbes's Leviathan.^[2][10]
• 17th century – the verb unforesee, to fail to anticipate.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not foreseen or expected; unexpected: Owing to unforeseen delays, the bridge opened a year late.^[9][5][11]

Related words

• foresee
• unforeseeable

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b 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 d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Webster, Noah (1828), An American Dictionary of the English Language, New York: S. Converse
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press