foretell

• foretel (obsolete)

c. 1300, from Middle English foretellen, equivalent to fore- +‎ tell.

• enPR: fôr-tĕlʹ, IPA^(key): /fɔɹˈtɛl/
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): [foː.ˈteɫ]
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [fɔː.ˈtɛɫ]
  • (US) IPA^(key): [fɔɹ.ˈtɛɫ]

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• Rhymes: -ɛl
• Hyphenation: fore‧tell

foretell (third-person singular simple present foretells, present participle foretelling, simple past and past participle foretold)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To predict; to tell (the future) before it occurs; to prophesy.
   • 1725–1726, Homer, “Book 2”, in [William Broome, Elijah Fenton, and Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:

     Deeds then undone me faithful tongue foretold.

   • 1741, Conyers Middleton, The Life of Cicero:

     Prodigies, foretelling the future eminence and lustre of his character.

2. (transitive) To tell (a person) of the future.
   • 1739, Edward Button, Rudiments of Ancient History:

     […] there came to him a Person named Saul, whom Samuel had never before seen; but God made him know it was the same he had foretold him of.

• foresay
• forespeak

• foretellable
• foreteller

• foretale

• forecast
• foresee
• forewarn

• “foretell”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “foretell”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

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