Foreseeable

How to spell foreseeable

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce foreseeable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does foreseeable mean?

1. adjectiveAble to be known, expected, or predicted in advance.

Foreseeable in a sentence

• The contract will remain in force for the foreseeable future.

• The delays were entirely foreseeable given the staffing shortage.

Where does foreseeable come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built entirely from native English parts, which is unusual for such a formal-sounding term. The prefix 'fore-' comes from Old English 'fore', meaning 'before' in time or position, the same element found in 'forecast', 'forewarn', and 'foretell'. The core verb 'see' descends from Old English 'seon', meaning 'to perceive with the eyes', and by extension 'to understand or predict'. The verb 'foresee', meaning 'to see beforehand', was in use by the 1200s, and the adjective 'foreseeable', meaning 'able to be predicted or known in advance', was formed by adding the French-derived suffix '-able', which conveys 'capable of being'. The spelling trap lives in the middle: three vowels in a row from 'foresee' meeting 'able' give the unusual run 'see-able', and writers often drop one 'e' or stumble over how many vowels belong together.

How the word is built

• fore- (before)
• see (to perceive)
• -able (capable of being)