future-proof
future-proof adjective: capable of surviving changes made in the future; not liable to become outdated.
Adjective
future-proof (comparative more future-proof, superlative most future-proof)
- Capable of surviving changes made in the future; not liable to become outdated.
- Videos recorded at a higher resolution are more future-proof since they can be viewed with more detail on higher resolution screens that one might own in future.
- It’s not easy to buy a future-proof laptop because the industry is moving in the opposite direction.2019 May 30, Jack Schofield, “Can I buy a future-proof laptop to last 10 years?”, in The Guardian
Verb
future-proof (third-person singular simple present future-proofs, present participle future-proofing, simple past and past participle future-proofed)
- To make ready to meet potential future requirements, or make use of potential future opportunities.
- While today’s most common image type, JPEG, had a few defenders, many believe it’s not a good candidate for future-proofing images because it is a “lossy” format.2009 May 8, Rik Fairlie, “How Will You Future-Proof Your Photos?”, in New York Times Gadgetwise Blog, retrieved 16 Jul 2021
- It is written to support you as you develop your own point of view about the future—and your own path to creating a future-proofed working life.2011, Lynda Gratton, The Shift: The Future of Work is Already Here, HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN, page 17
Forms of future-proof
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more future-proof |
| superlative | most future-proof |
| alternative form | future proof |
| alternative form | futureproof |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | future-proofs |
| present participle | future-proofing |
| past participle | future-proofed |
| past | future-proofed |
Origin of future-proof
From future + -proof.
Questions about future-proof
- What does future-proof mean?
- Future-proof means capable of surviving changes made in the future; not liable to become outdated.
- What part of speech is future-proof?
- Future-proof can be an adjective or a verb.
Words near future-proof in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: future-proof (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:
Cite this entry: “future-proof.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/future-proof. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.