Foreknowledges

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of having advance awareness or insight regarding future events or situations
2. The possession of prior knowledge that enables anticipation of outcomes or happenings
3. A state of being informed beforehand about what is to come in time

Etymology: "Foreknowledges" is simply the plural of "foreknowledge," so the story belongs to that noun. It is a transparent compound: "fore-," meaning "before" or "in advance," joined to "knowledge." The prefix has been in English since Old English, where "fore" already meant "before" in both time and place, so the combination describes knowing something before it happens. The prefix traces back through Proto-Germanic and the ancient Indo-European root that also gave rise to "before" and "forth," which is why so many English words beginning with "fore-" share the sense of priority or advance position. "Knowledge" was itself formed in English from "know," so the whole word is an English construction built from older English parts rather than a borrowing. The plural form is less common than the singular, since "foreknowledge" usually refers to a general capacity rather than to countable instances. When the plural appears, it typically marks separate cases or kinds of advance knowledge.

Synonyms: presciences, preknowledge, premonitions, anticipations, foresights

Antonyms: ignorances, unawareness, blindness, oblivion, obscurity