Fore

How to spell fore

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce fore

What does fore mean?

1. adjectiveSituated at or towards the front, especially of a ship.
2. nounThe front or most prominent position, chiefly in the phrase 'to the fore'.
3. interjectionA shout used in golf to warn people that a ball is heading towards them.

Fore in a sentence

• adjective

  The crew secured the cargo in the fore section of the vessel.

• noun

  Her negotiating skills came to the fore during the difficult merger.

• interjection

  The golfer yelled fore as his ball sliced towards the next green.

• adjective

  Strong waves battered the fore deck throughout the storm.

• noun

  New safety concerns were brought to the fore at the meeting.

• interjection

  Players are taught to call fore loudly whenever a stray shot endangers others.

Where does fore come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This little word comes straight from Old English 'fore', which served as both a preposition and an adverb meaning 'before' or 'in front of'. It traces back to the same ancient Germanic root that gave German 'vor' and shares deep ancestry with the Latin 'pro' and Greek 'pro', all carrying the sense of being ahead or in front. In English it survives partly as an independent word, as in the nautical phrase 'fore and aft', and partly as the productive prefix 'fore-' that we still attach freely, as in 'forecast', 'foresee' and 'forehead'. The golfing shout 'fore!', used to warn people of an approaching ball, is generally thought to be a shortened form of 'before', urging those ahead to look out. Because it sounds identical to 'for' and 'four', the spelling with a final silent 'e' is the trap, and remembering its link to 'forward' and 'before' is the surest cue.

How the word is built

• fore (Old English root meaning 'in front of, before'); the same element forms the prefix in 'forehead', 'forecast' and 'forward'

Words that sound like fore

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• for: Used to indicate purpose, recipient, duration, or exchange.
• four: The cardinal number equal to three plus one, written as 4.