foretell

/fɔrˈtɛl/

/fɔˈtɛl/

Other forms: foretold; foretells

To foretell is to predict or hint at something. Some people believe that two crows foretell good luck for the person who sees them.

Signs and omens foretell good or bad fortune, and symbolism in the early chapters of a novel can foretell events that happen near the end of the book. Longtime sailors sometimes say that a pink morning sky foretells bad weather later in the day. In each case, something is being foreshadowed or forecast. Fore is an Old English prefix that means "before" or "earlier," and it's combined here with tell, "to reckon or consider."

Definitions of foretell

1. verb

   foreshadow or presage
   synonyms: announce, annunciate, harbinger, herald

   type of:

   tell

   let something be known
2. verb

   indicate by signs
   synonyms: augur, auspicate, betoken, bode, forecast, foreshadow, omen, portend, predict, prefigure, presage, prognosticate

   types:

   threaten

   to be a menacing indication of something:"The clouds threaten rain"

   foreshow

   foretell by divine inspiration

   type of:

   bespeak, betoken, indicate, point, signal

   be a signal for or a symptom of
3. verb

   make a prediction about; tell in advance
   synonyms: anticipate, call, forebode, predict, prognosticate, promise

   types:

   read

   interpret the significance of, as of palms, tea leaves, intestines, the sky; also of human behavior

   outguess, second-guess

   attempt to anticipate or predict

   augur

   predict from an omen

   bet, wager

   maintain with or as if with a bet

   calculate, forecast, project

   predict in advance

   prophesy, vaticinate

   predict or reveal through, or as if through, divine inspiration

   scry

   divine by gazing into crystals

   vaticinate

   foretell through or as if through the power of prophecy

   enlighten, irradiate

   give spiritual insight to; in religion

   type of:

   guess, hazard, pretend, venture

   put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation