Word.ws English Dictionary

forewatch

forewatch verb: to look out for; watch over.

Verb

forewatch (third-person singular simple present forewatches, present participle forewatching, simple past and past participle forewatched)

  1. (transitive) To look out for; watch over
    • Ah! vanity is all to him who knows (Well warn'd by this!) his day's a fleeting cloud! —'Tis sacred wisdom to forewatch the close! To eye each hour—the Coffin and the Shroud!1835, G. M., The Fall of Man and His Redemption
    • To learn, to know, how energies may pass / I would forewatch the waters near the moon / To spell the tidal change — and feel it chance [...]1908, Gerda Dalliba, An Earth Poem, and Other Poems

Noun

forewatch (plural forewatches)

  1. A foreward positioned guard or sentry; vanguard
    • The forewatch on the Trident called out, "Ho! Pharos ahead!" Straining his eyes, Pilate could see only a tiny blemish of luminous orange on the southeastern horizon.1972, Paul L. Maier, Pontius Pilate
    • It was the forewatch who spotted it first bearing down from the front. They were under attack!2012, Jeane Heimberger Candido, Shepherd's Song
  2. An early watch
    • Jason takes the forewatches — 6 to noon, 6 to midnight — and Jimmy takes the afterwatches.1980, Mary B. Durant, Michael Harwood, On the Road With John James Audubon

Forms of forewatch

Verb
third-person singular presentforewatches
present participleforewatching
past participleforewatched
pastforewatched
Noun
pluralforewatches

Origin of forewatch

From fore- + watch (verb).

From fore- + watch (noun).

Words formed from forewatch

  • forewatched

Questions about forewatch

What does forewatch mean?
Forewatch means to look out for; watch over.
What part of speech is forewatch?
Forewatch can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of forewatch?
The past tense of forewatch is forewatched.

Words near forewatch in the dictionary

  1. forewarning
  2. forewarningly
  3. forewarnings
  4. forewarns
  5. forewaste
  6. forewatch
  7. forewatches
  8. forewater
  9. forewaters
  10. foreway
  11. foreways

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: forewatch (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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Cite this entry: “forewatch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/forewatch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.