Other forms: forecasts, forecasting, forecasted
A forecast is a statement of what is coming, worked out from what is happening now. The one you check most is the weather forecast: rain after four, wind off the sea, cold enough for gloves by Friday.
Forecast is a verb as well — forecasters forecast snow — and in British English the past tense stays forecast, though forecasted turns up too. Money uses the word as much as weather does: a sales forecast, an economic forecast, a cash-flow forecast for the year ahead. Learn the phrasings whole: the forecast says rain, the forecast is for snow, a forecast of heavy losses. What separates a forecast from a guess is the data and the method behind it, which is why a bad forecast gets people angry in a way a bad guess never does.
1nounforecastA statement of what the weather will do.
“The forecast promised sun, and it rained from nine until dark.”
2nouncalculationA calculation of what will happen, based on the information available now.
“The company cut its sales forecast for the second time this year.”
3verbworkingTo say what will happen, working from present information.
“Economists forecast slower growth over the winter.”
forecast is a statement about what is coming.
Forecast is two ordinary English pieces joined together back in Middle English: fore- and cast. To cast is to throw, so a forecast is your thinking thrown out ahead of the event, landing on ground where nothing has happened yet.
Middle English
forecasten
English, today
forecast
From Middle English forecasten, forcasten, equivalent to fore- + cast. The noun is from Middle English forecast, forcast.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA