fore ‧ see /fɔːˈsiː $ fɔːr-/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense foresaw /-ˈsɔː $ -ˈsɒː/, past participle foreseen /-ˈsiːn/) [transitive]
to think or know that something is going to happen in the future ⇨ predict :
I’ve put your name on the list and I don’t foresee any problems.
The disaster could not have been foreseen.
foresee that
Few analysts foresaw that oil prices would rise so steeply.
foresee what/how etc
No one foresaw what he was planning.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ predict to say that something will happen, before it happens:
In the future, it may be possible to predict earthquakes.
|
Scientists are trying to predict what the Amazon will look like in 20 years' time.
▪ forecast to say what is likely to happen in the future, especially in relation to the weather or the economic or political situation:
They’re forecasting a hard winter.
|
Economists forecast that there would be a recession.
▪ project to say what the amount, size, cost etc of something is likely to be in the future, using the information you have now:
The world’s population is projected to rise by 45%.
▪ can say especially spoken be able to know what will happen in the future:
No one can say what the next fifty years will bring.
|
I can’t say exactly how much it will cost.
▪ foretell to say correctly what will happen in the future, using special religious or magical powers:
The woman claimed that she had the gift of foretelling the future.
|
It all happened as the prophet had foretold.
▪ prophesy to say that something will happen because you feel that it will, or by using special religious or magical powers:
He’s one of those people who are always prophesying disaster.
|
The coming of a great Messiah is prophesied in the Bible.
|
He prophesied that the world would end in 2012.
|
Marx prophesied that capitalism would destroy itself.
▪ foresee to know that something is going to happen before it happens:
They should have foreseen these problems.
|
No one foresaw the outcome of the war.
▪ have a premonition to have a strange feeling that something is about to happen, especially something bad, usually just before it happens:
Suddenly I had a strange premonition of danger ahead.