foreshadow

英 [fɔː'ʃædəʊ] 美 [fɔːr'ʃædoʊ]

v.预示；预兆

◉词源

“foreshadow”由英语前缀“fore-”（之前、预先）和“shadow”（阴影）组成，字面意为“预先投下阴影”。16世纪进入英语，最初指“预示、暗示”，常用于文学或叙述中，形容某事件或符号预示未来发生的事情。

◉外刊例句

① 《The New Yorker》 (2025年7月10日)

The storm clouds foreshadowed trouble ahead. 乌云预示着前方的麻烦。

② 《The Guardian》 (2024年12月20日)

His words foreshadowed a policy shift.

他的话预示了政策转变。

◉经典名著

① 《简·爱》（Jane Eyre） by Charlotte Brontë (1847)

The strange laugh foreshadowed her tragic fate.

那诡异的笑声预示了她悲惨的命运。

② 《白鲸》（Moby-Dick） by Herman Melville (1851)

The dark omens foreshadowed disaster.

黑暗的征兆预示了灾难。

◉ Usage Examples

(1) Those dark clouds foreshadow a storm.

(2) Their words foreshadow events to come.

(3) The book then uses this information to foreshadow the direction that future anti-neoplastic therapies will take.

(1) 那些乌云预示着有一场暴风雨。

(2) 他们的话预示了所将要发生的事情。

(3) 书然后使用这讯息预兆将来的反新生物的治疗将带的指示。

◉ Usage Notes

To foreshadow is to predict something or to give a hint of what is to come. Your kid sister's ability to take apart a toaster and put it back together might foreshadow a successful career in electronics.

The verb foreshadow is often defined as "warning" or has a suggestion of something bad to come, though sometimes it's more neutral or shows examples of both good and bad predictions. Dark gray clouds foreshadow a thunderstorm, just as spring showers foreshadow May flowers. What is foreshadowed doesn't always happen, though. A story might not foreshadow a happily-ever-after ending, but then it takes an unexpected twist, and the villain turns out to be a hero.

◉柯林斯词典

1[VERB 动词]预示；是…的预兆 If something foreshadows an event or situation, it suggests that it will happen. [V n]

The disappointing sales figures foreshadow more redundancies...

令人失望的销售额预示着会有更多人被裁员。

The change proposed last month was foreshadowed in the March Budget.

上个月提议的变动在 3 月份的预算中已经有所预兆了。