FOREWARN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does forewarn mean? 

• FOREWARN (verb)
  The verb FOREWARN has 1 sense:

1. warn in advance or beforehand; give an early warning

  Familiarity information: FOREWARN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FOREWARN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they forewarn    ... he / she / it forewarns   
Past simple: forewarned   
Past participle: forewarned   
-ing form: forewarning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Warn in advance or beforehand; give an early warning

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

forewarn; previse

Context example:

I forewarned him of the trouble that would arise if he showed up at his ex-wife's house

Hypernyms (to "forewarn" is one way to...):

warn (notify of danger, potential harm, or risk)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody of something

Derivation:

forewarning (an early warning about a future event)

 Context examples 

If you are forewarned you will be the more ready to make allowances.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But there were no other clothes in my room than the odd heap of things I wore; and when I was left there, with a little taper which my aunt forewarned me would burn exactly five minutes, I heard them lock my door on the outside.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

His own words are a pledge of this—"My Master," he says, "has forewarned me. Daily He announces more distinctly,—'Surely I come quickly!' and hourly I more eagerly respond,—'Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus!'"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)