Foresight
nounThe ability to anticipate and prepare for future needs or events.
How to spell foresight
9 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce foresight
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does foresight mean?
- nounThe ability to anticipate and prepare for future needs or events.
Foresight in a sentence
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Her foresight in saving early meant a comfortable retirement.
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The council showed real foresight by reserving land for the new hospital.
Where does foresight come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word is a transparent Germanic compound, built from the Old English prefix 'fore-', meaning 'before' or 'in advance', and 'sight', the noun for seeing that comes from Old English 'sihth' or 'gesiht'. Together the parts literally name the ability to 'see ahead', and the word has carried that figurative meaning of careful planning for the future since the Middle Ages. It appears in English from around the 1300s and was modelled in part on the older Latin idea of 'providentia', which likewise joined 'pro' (ahead) with seeing to give us 'providence'. Because both halves of foresight are common everyday English words, the spelling is regular and the only real point to remember is that it keeps the silent 'gh' inherited from 'sight'. Its natural opposite, 'hindsight', was coined much later by simply swapping the first element.
How the word is built
- fore- (before, ahead)
- sight (the act of seeing)
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