forethought

English

Etymology

From Middle English forethouht, forethoght, from Old English *foreþōht (“forethought”); equivalent to fore- +‎ thought. See also forethink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (noun) /ˈfɔː(ɹ)θɔːt/
• (adjective, verb) IPA^(key): /fɔː(ɹ)ˈθɔːt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (adjective, verb) Rhymes: -ɔːt

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

forethought (countable and uncountable, plural forethoughts)

1. Thinking beforehand or in advance, planning; prior or previous consideration; premeditation.

   With a little forethought we'd have planned for this contingency and not been stuck here now.

2. Anticipation.
3. Provident care; prudence.

Derived terms

• fearthought
• forethoughted
• forethoughtful
• forethoughtless
• unforethought

Translations

thinking beforehand

Bulgarian: преднамереност (bg) f (prednamerenost) Finnish: ennakointi (fi), kauaskatseisuus Greek: Ancient: προμήθεια f (promḗtheia), πρόνοια f (prónoia) Icelandic: fyrirhyggja (is) f Latin: praecogitatio f Macedonian: премисла f (premisla) Malayalam: മുൻവിചാരം (ml) (muṉvicāraṁ) Polish: premedytacja (pl) f, przezorność (pl) f Russian: предусмотрительность (ru) (predusmotritelʹnostʹ) Turkish: ihtiyat (tr) sg Ukrainian: продуманість f (produmanistʹ), обдуманість f (obdumanistʹ)

anticipation

Finnish: ennakointi (fi) Polish: oczekiwanie (pl) n Ukrainian: передбачливість (uk) f (peredbačlyvistʹ)

provident care

Bulgarian: предвидливост (bg) (predvidlivost) Finnish: järki (fi), järkevyys (fi) Polish: roztropność (pl) f, rozwaga (pl) f

Adjective

forethought (not comparable)

1. Thought of, or planned, beforehand.
   • c. 1613–1621, Francis Bacon, The judicial charge upon the commission of Oyer and Terminer held for the verge of the Court

     Forethought malice.

   Synonyms: aforethought, premeditated

Verb

forethought

1. simple past and past participle of forethink