foreshadow
Syllables: fore·sha·dow/fɔːˈʃædəʊ/
foreshadow verb: to suggest (someone or something) in advance; to prefigure, to presage.
Verb
foreshadow (third-person singular simple present foreshadows, present participle foreshadowing, simple past and past participle foreshadowed)
- To suggest (someone or something) in advance; to prefigure, to presage.
- [T]he ceremonies commaunded in the lawe, did foreſhadowe Chriſt.1575, Martin Luther, “The Third Chapter. Verse 17.”, in [Thomas Vautrollier], transl., A Commentarie of M. Doctor Martin Luther upon the Epistle of S. Paule to the Galathians, […], revised edition...
- [T]hat the excellency and efficacy of this [Jesus's] death and passion might appear, it was by manifold types foreshadowed, and in divers prophecies foretold.a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “An Exposition on the Creed”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume VI, London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1831, →OCLC, page 520
- Of a person: to have an intuition or premonition about (something); to forebode.
- Another consequence that he had never foreshadowed, was the implication of an innocent man in his supposed murder.1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “Strong of Purpose”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, 2nd book (Birds of a Feather), page 289
Noun
IPA/ˈfɔːˌʃædəʊ/
foreshadow (plural foreshadows)
- A suggestion of something in advance; a harbinger, a portent.
- At present it is only in local glimpses, and by significant fragments, picked often at wide-enough intervals from the original Volume, and carefully collated, that we can hope to impart some outline or foreshadow of this Doctrine.1831, Thomas Carlyle, “The World out of Clothes”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 35
- Fore-shadows, call them rather fore-splendours, of that Truth, and Beginning of Truths, fell mysteriously over my soul.1831, Thomas Carlyle, “The Everlasting Yea”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 130
- Synonyms:
- foretouch, foreshadowing, omen, augury, auspice, harbinger, portent, presage, prognostic
foreshadow meaning in Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and Indonesian
foreshadow in Bengali
- পূর্বাভাস দেওয়া, আগে থেকে ইঙ্গিত দেওয়া
foreshadow in Malayalam
- indicate, signal, signify
- മുൻകൂട്ടി അടയാളം കാണിക്കുക, മുന്നറിക്കുന്ന ലക്ഷണം കാണിക്കുക, കരിനിഴൽ വീഴ്ത്തുക, സൂചന കൊടുക്കുക, സൂചിപ്പിക്കുക, മുൻകൂട്ടി ഏതെങ്കിലും രൂപസൂചന നല്കുക
foreshadow in Kannada
- ಮುನ್ನರಿಸು, ಮುಂದೋರಿಸು
foreshadow in Indonesian
- to suggest (someone or something) in advance — see also prefigure, presage
- padah
Examples of foreshadow in a sentence
- "Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead," said [Ebenezer] Scrooge.1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Four. The Last of the Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC...
- A good man's praise foreshadoweth God's, and in His smile is heaven: […]1842, Martin Farquhar Tupper, “Of Neglect”, in Proverbial Philosophy: A Book of Thoughts and Arguments, Originally Treated (Second Series)...
- Even as the cloud foreshadoweth rain, so prayer foreshadoweth the blessing; even as the green blade is the beginning of the harvest, so is prayer the prophecy of the blessing that is about to come.1857 June 28 (date delivered), Charles H[addon] Spurgeon, “[Sermon] 138: Prayer—The Forerunner of Mercy—Ezek[iel] 36:37: A Sermon Delivered...
- I have inveigled Tristan and Iseult / Back into this thy court—to Tristan's death, / And my installing as apparent heir, / As thou foreshadowedst.1906, Arthur Dillon, King Arthur Pendragon, London: Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 116:
Synonyms of foreshadow
Forms of foreshadow
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | foreshadows |
| present participle | foreshadowing |
| past participle | foreshadowed |
| past | foreshadowed |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | foreshadowest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | foreshadowedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | foreshadoweth |
| Noun | |
| plural | foreshadows |
Origin of foreshadow
The verb is derived from fore- (prefix meaning ‘before with respect to time, earlier’) + shadow (“to shade, cloud, or darken”, verb). The noun is derived from fore- + shadow (“faint and imperfect representation”, noun), probably modelled after the verb which is attested earlier.
Words formed from foreshadow
Words that rhyme with foreshadow
Questions about foreshadow
- What does foreshadow mean?
- Foreshadow means to suggest (someone or something) in advance; to prefigure, to presage.
- What is foreshadow in Bengali?
- Foreshadow in Bengali is পূর্বাভাস দেওয়া, আগে থেকে ইঙ্গিত দেওয়া. See Foreshadow meaning in Bengali.
- How do you use foreshadow in a sentence?
- "Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead," said [Ebenezer] Scrooge.
- What part of speech is foreshadow?
- Foreshadow can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce foreshadow?
- Foreshadow is pronounced /fɔːˈʃædəʊ/.
- What is the past tense of foreshadow?
- The past tense of foreshadow is foreshadowed.
Words near foreshadow in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: foreshadow (page history and authors); Foreshadow (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); foreshadow (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); foreshadow (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-foreshadow.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-foreshadow.wav.
Cite this entry: “foreshadow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/foreshadow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.