Forewarn

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To inform an individual ahead of time regarding a possible threat or forthcoming situation
2. To give prior notice to someone about an impending risk or event to enable preparedness
3. To alert someone beforehand about a potential hazard or future event so they can take precautions

Etymology: Forewarn is about as transparent as English compounds get: "fore-" meaning "before," joined to "warn." The Old English verb "forewarnian" already meant to take warning beforehand, and it passed through Middle English into the form we use today by the early 14th century. Its Proto-Germanic ancestor, reconstructed as "*furawarnōną," shows that the idea of warning ahead of time was built into the word from the start. The compound is shared across the Germanic languages. German "vorwarnen" and Swedish "förvarna" carry the same meaning, so English is simply one branch of a family that long ago agreed on the same way of saying it. Few words reveal their own construction so openly, and the parts have barely changed in over a thousand years.

Synonyms: alert, warn, notify

Antonyms: unwarn, misinform