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foreshadowing

foreshadowing

8 6.7
A hint early in a story that shows what will happen later
  • noun
  • /ˌfɔːrˈʃædoʊɪŋ/
  • Literature
translation icon : presagio
  • The author's use of subtle clues acts as a foreshadowing of the character's eventual betrayal.
  • foreshadowing device
  • foreshadowing technique
  • foreshadowing and parallelism

And you're like, oh, it is foreshadowing, isn't it?

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Examples

  • I plan to use picture books to teach complex topics such as foreshadowing, setting, theme, and voice.

    Academic text (2015)
  • In essence, these are these behaviors that happen in a relationship that are a foreshadowing of a relationship's ultimate downfall.

  • And it was a foreshadowing of the attention span that we are now fully living with.

  • And now, there is some foreshadowing that Bottle has hidden power inside him as well.

    Blog text (24)
  • The first strategy we discovered was memoirists' use of foreshadowing in their leads.

    Academic text (2012)
  • Flash offers students narrative elements, such as characterization and foreshadowing techniques.

    Academic text (2015)
  • As with foreshadowing, parallelisms occur on both small and large scales in the novel.

    Academic text (1992)
  • He says he always likes, in the first scene of a movie, to have some foreshadowing of what the story's going to be about.

  • Much like the foreshadowing device, parallelism is also used by the narrator to create structural cohesion.

    Academic text (1992)
  • You'd be surprised how much symbolism and foreshadowing RJ stacked into these first few chapters.

    Blog text (26)

Synonyms

forewarning
vsforeshadowing
3 5.6

A sign or notice that something bad will happen

is used to hint at future developments rather than to warn of danger
foretaste
vsforeshadowing
2 7.9

A small early experience that shows what will happen later

is a hint or signal to prepare an audience, not an actual sample
adumbration
vsforeshadowing
  • Formal
1 9.9

A faint hint of what will happen later

is a deliberate hint used to prepare an audience, often more clear
prefigurement
vsforeshadowing
  • Literature
9.1

A sign or early example that shows what will happen later

is used mainly in literature and film to prepare the audience
prefiguration
vsforeshadowing
9.9

An event or example that shows what will happen later

is used to hint at future plot or developments for an audience
forerun
vsforeshadowing
7.7

Something that comes before and shows what will happen next

is used within stories or films to hint at later events for the audience
adumbration of thought
vsforeshadowing
  • Literature
9.9

A faint early hint of an idea that appears later

is aimed at preparing an audience for story events, not just ideas

Antonyms

738 1.0

An event that happens suddenly and is not expected

How Predictive

prediction
375 2.6
foreshadowing
  • Literature
8 6.7
to presage
  • Literature
5 8.8
to hint
136 2.0
suggestion
759 1.4

Surface Forms

foreshadowing singular

Morphology

foreshadowing = foreshadow (transparent) = fore + shadow + ing

The verb 'foreshadow' (fore- + shadow) clearly means to indicate beforehand, and the '-ing' forms a gerund/verb form that preserves that meaning.

Etymology

Foreshadowing comes from fore- meaning 'before' and shadow meaning 'a shadow' or 'sign'. So foreshadowing is like a 'shadow' of what will happen that appears earlier in a story to give a small hint about the future.