foreword

Morphologically fore- +‎ word. Calque of German Vorwort, itself a calque of Latin praefatio (“preface”). Cognate with German Low German Vörwoord (“foreword”), Dutch voorwoord (“foreword”), West Frisian foarwurd (“foreword”), Danish forord (“preface; proviso”), Swedish förord (“foreword”). Compare also Old English forword, foreword (“proviso; condition”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːwɜːd/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹwɝd/, /ˈfɔɹwɚd/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Homophones: forward (US, Canada)
• Hyphenation: fore‧word

foreword (plural forewords)

1. An introductory section preceding the main text of a book or other document; especially, one written by another person (not the author of the work thus introduced).

   Antonyms: afterword, epilogue, endsay, conclusion, last word, postamble; see also Thesaurus:afterword

   Coordinate terms: (broadly synonymous) foretalk, foretale, preface, introduction, prologue, preamble; see also Thesaurus:foreword

   • 2023 March 8, Gareth Dennis, “The Reshaping of things to come...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 44:

     He closes the foreword by acknowledging that his proposals would have far-reaching impacts on railway staff, communities and industry - and passes the buck onto government to ensure that these consequences are managed appropriately.