What does foreknow mean?
To foreknow is to know something before it happens — not merely to predict or infer it, but to possess actual knowledge of the event in advance. The verb is formal and relatively rare today, surviving mainly in religious and philosophical contexts, where questions of divine foreknowledge raise deep puzzles about fate and free will: if the future is already known with certainty, can human choices still be free? In ordinary English, speakers overwhelmingly prefer near-neighbours such as 'foresee' or 'anticipate', which suggest expectation rather than certainty. Foreknow's most visible modern form is arguably its noun derivative 'foreknowledge', and its past participle 'foreknown' also appears more often than the bare verb. For readers interested in precise vocabulary, however, foreknow occupies a distinctive niche: it marks the strongest possible claim about knowing the future, distinguishing genuine advance knowledge from educated guessing.
verbTo have prior knowledge of something before it happens; to be aware of an event in advance of its occurrence.
- To know or be aware of something before it occurs, especially as a matter of certainty rather than prediction.
"The prophet claimed to foreknow the fall of the city."
"No one could have foreknown that the storm would change course so suddenly."
"In his letter, Paul writes of those whom God 'did foreknow' — a passage long debated by theologians."
Foreknow is the rare word theologians reach for when they claim God knew your choices before you made them — it's certainty about the future, not just a good guess.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of foreknow
Foreknow is formed from the Old English prefix 'fore-', meaning 'before' or 'in advance', joined to the verb 'know', making it a native Germanic compound rather than a classical borrowing. It was well established in Old English and medieval religious texts, where it carried particular weight in discussions of God's omniscience. Its cognates include other 'fore-' compounds such as foresee, foretell, foreshadow, and forewarn, which likewise express anticipation or advance awareness. The noun 'foreknowledge' has been even more influential in theology and philosophy than the verb itself.
Related word forms
How foreknow is actually used
Foreknow is a formal, literary, and chiefly theological term; it appears far more often in religious and philosophical writing than in everyday speech, where 'foresee' or 'anticipate' are preferred. Its past participle 'foreknown' is more common than the base form, and the noun derivative 'foreknowledge' outnumbers all verbal uses combined.
Easily confused with foreknow
Foresee means to anticipate or expect that something will happen, often by inference, while foreknow emphasizes knowing an event in advance as though it were already certain.
Knowledge is the noun for awareness or information generally, whereas its derived form 'foreknowledge' specifically denotes advance knowledge of future events.