foresight

UK/ˈfɔːsaɪt/US/ˈfɔɹsaɪt/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,282 of 15,258neutral

Foresight is the wisdom to prepare for what is coming. Great foresight, lack of foresight, with foresight.

It is praised in hindsight, which is the whole difficulty — foresight can only be recognised afterwards, and the decisions it produces look like unnecessary caution at the time. It is used constantly in inquiries: a failure of foresight. Note hindsight, which is its opposite and much commoner; and that foresight is a calque of the Latin providentia, whence providence.

Definitions of foresight

1nounforesightThe wisdom to prepare for what is coming.B2+
“She had the foresight to save money for a rainy day.”

foresight is a preparing for the future.

Where it comes from

Middle English forsight is fore plus sight, translating Latin providentia piece by piece. German Vorsicht and Dutch voorzicht are the same compound.

Latin
providentia
Middle English
forsight
English, today
foresight

From Middle English forsight, forsyght, forsichte (since 14th c.), a calque of Latin providentia. by surface analysis, fore- + sight. Compare Scots foresicht, stq Foarsicht, archaic Dutch voorzicht (now voorzichtigheid), German Vorsicht (all “caution, foresight”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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foresight in the wild

Strategic foresight is a planning-oriented discipline related to futures studies.
Strategic foresight
In a business context, a more action-oriented approach has become well known as corporate foresight.
Strategic foresight
Several non-European think tanks, like Strategic Foresight Group, also engage in foresight studies.
Foresight (futures studies)
There is notable but not complete overlap between foresight and strategic planning, change management, forecasting, and design thinking.
Foresight (futures studies)
Because of this, the nature and evolution of foresight is an important topic in psychology.
Foresight (psychology)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the providentia family

providence prudence foresight

foresight — used about once every 4,394 pages · #9,282 · point at the bar for the others

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