foregone

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹɡɔn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒn

foregone

1. past participle of forego
   • 2025 May 28, Ben Plowden talks to Anthony Lambert, “The railway is an essential public service”, in RAIL, number 1036, page 33:

     "We need a different understanding of revenues and public expenditure. The 15-year freeze on fuel duty and lack of tax on aviation fuel are effectively a huge subsidy to those forms of travel, but they are not described as subsidy because they are foregone revenue. Yet if you invest to hold rail fares, it's seen as subsidy."

foregone (comparative more foregone, superlative most foregone)

1. previous, former
2. bygone
   • 1874, William Henley, O, Gather Me the Rose:

     For with the dream foregone, foregone,
     The deed forborne for ever,
     The worm, regret, will canker on,
     And time will turn him never.

3. (informal) inevitable; settled
   • 2018 October 2, Erik Wasson, quoting John Cornyn, “Senate Approval of New Nafta Not a 'Foregone Conclusion,’ Republican Says”, in Bloomberg‎^[1]:

     I know people are still going through the details but it's not a foregone conclusion that it will get confirmation by the Senate.

• (previous): preceding, used-to-be; see also Thesaurus:former
• (bygone): forepassed, historical; see also Thesaurus:past
• (inevitable): avoidless, unescapable; see also Thesaurus:inevitable