forewarning

From forewarn +‎ -ing.

forewarning

1. present participle and gerund of forewarn

From Middle English forwarning, equivalent to forewarn +‎ -ing or fore- +‎ warning. Cognate with German Vorwarnung (“forewarning”), Swedish förvarning (“forewarning”).

forewarning (countable and uncountable, plural forewarnings)

1. An advance warning; an omen.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 94:

     Beatrice knew his footstep at a distance that might have defied even the acute listener of the fairy tale; and yet, with even such long forewarning, would blush crimson deep on his entrance.

   • 1936 July, John Buchan, “Lost Gods”, in The Island of Sheep, London: Hodder and Stoughton, published July 1938, →OCLC, part I (Fosse), page 11:

     I have never believed, as some people do, in omens and forewarnings, for the dramatic things in my life have generally come upon me as suddenly as a tropical thunder-storm.

   • 2023, Erhard S. Gerstenberger, “Finding (or Missing) God and Meaning in Suffering”, in Michael G. Maness, Kevaughn Mattis, editors, Can You Hear My Pain Now?: Making Pastoral Theology Relevant in the Modern World, Wipf & Stock, →ISBN, part three (Pastoral Theology in Human Suffering), page 314:

     For many humans, life does end abruptly, without much forewarning.

   • 2025 June 17, Nicole Stock, “Why Is Everybody ‘Crashing Out’?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 18 June 2025:

     “It’s kind of this forewarning of like, ‘Hey you’re annoying me, I’m going to crash out,’” he said, “or like, ‘This project I’m working on is going to make me crash out.’”

• premonition