Word.ws English Dictionary

foretale

foretale noun: an account or telling given as an introduction to a larger body of work; prologue; a prior or previous recollection or account of events.

Noun

foretale (plural foretales)

  1. An account or telling given as an introduction to a larger body of work; prologue; a prior or previous recollection or account of events
    • The first three paragraphs of the translation are a condensed paraphrase of the first foretale, which tells of the birth of Aengus and how he obtains Etain for Midir by clearing twelve plains and creating twelve rivers (only nine are named in the story) [...]1995, Alice Kane, Sean Kane, The Dreamer Awakes
    • Mentioned in the ancient lists as Prime Stories, these short narratives were evidently foretales (remscéla) to the saga of Conaire Mor, the Great King of Tara, regarded by several clans as their ancestor.1998, Sean Kane, Wisdom of the Mythtellers
  2. An account given in advance; prediction
    • One can gain further insight by looking at what “foretales/ prophecies” are, and how they are made. It is interesting to consider the very terms themselves, and their evolution through time.1987, Mervin Daub, Canadian Economic Forecasting: In a World Where All's Unsure
    Synonyms:
    foretelling

Examples of foretale in a sentence

  • The final foretale is a story of magical transformation with comic undertones, explaining how the two great bulls, the Brown and the Whitehorned, came to be.2006, Maureen O'Rourke Murphy, James MacKillop, An Irish Literature Reader:
  • “Dam Joy told me that after Gormaak recited the Centauri tale of the Black and White, Fro Clear recalled an obscure foretale told to him by his grandam.2011, Patricia Crommett, The Song of the Faery:
  • Filled with these foretales of gloom, I climbed back up the cliff with Yates to the Nissen hut to join him and Stagg for examination of the incoming Friday charts.2011, Giles Foden, Turbulence:

Synonyms of foretale

Antonyms

Forms of foretale

pluralforetales

Origin of foretale

From fore- + tale; compare foretell.

Questions about foretale

What does foretale mean?
Foretale means an account or telling given as an introduction to a larger body of work; prologue; a prior or previous recollection or account of events.
How do you use foretale in a sentence?
The final foretale is a story of magical transformation with comic undertones, explaining how the two great bulls, the Brown and the Whitehorned, came to be.
What part of speech is foretale?
Foretale is a noun.
What is the plural of foretale?
The plural of foretale is foretales.

Words near foretale in the dictionary

  1. foretackle
  2. foretackles
  3. foretacks
  4. foretake
  5. foretaken
  6. foretale
  7. foretales
  8. foretalk
  9. foretarsal
  10. foretarsi
  11. foretarsus

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: foretale (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.

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