FORETELLING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does foretelling mean? 

• FORETELLING (noun)
  The noun FORETELLING has 2 senses:

1. a statement made about the future

2. the art or gift of prophecy (or the pretense of prophecy) by supernatural means

  Familiarity information: FORETELLING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORETELLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A statement made about the future

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

forecasting; foretelling; prediction; prognostication

Hypernyms ("foretelling" is a kind of...):

statement (a message that is stated or declared; a communication (oral or written) setting forth particulars or facts etc)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "foretelling"):

extropy (the prediction that human intelligence and technology will enable life to expand in an orderly way throughout the entire universe)

fortunetelling (the practice of predicting people's futures (usually for payment))

horoscope (a prediction of someone's future based on the relative positions of the planets)

meteorology; weather forecasting (predicting what the weather will be)

forecast; prognosis (a prediction about how something (as the weather) will develop)

divination; prophecy (a prediction uttered under divine inspiration)

Derivation:

foretell (make a prediction about; tell in advance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The art or gift of prophecy (or the pretense of prophecy) by supernatural means

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

divination; foretelling; fortune telling; soothsaying

Hypernyms ("foretelling" is a kind of...):

prognostication; prophecy; vaticination (knowledge of the future (usually said to be obtained from a divine source))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "foretelling"):

arithmancy (divination by means of numbers)

dowse; dowsing; rhabdomancy (searching for underground water or minerals by using a dowsing rod)

geomancy (divination by means of signs connected with the earth (as points taken at random or the arrangement of particles thrown down at random or from the configuration of a region and its relation to another))

hydromancy (divination by water (as by patterns seen in the ebb and flow of the tides))

lithomancy (divination by means of stones or stone talismans)

necromancy (conjuring up the dead, especially for prophesying)

oneiromancy (divination through the interpretation of dreams)

onomancy (divination by the letters of a name)

chirology; chiromancy; palm reading; palmistry (telling fortunes by lines on the palm of the hand)

pyromancy (divination by fire or flames)

 Context examples 

I do not pretend to Emma's genius for foretelling and guessing.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)