Unforeseen

Definition: Unforeseen

Unforeseen

Adjective

1. Not anticipated; "unanticipated and disconcerting lines of development"- H.W.Glidden; "unforeseen circumstances"; "a virtue unlooked-for in people so full of energy"; "like a bolt out of the blue".

2. Happening or coming quickly and without warning; "a sudden unexpected development".

Date "unforeseen" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references)

Synonyms: Unforeseen

Synonyms: out of the blue(p) (adj), unanticipated (adj), unexpected (adj), unlooked-for (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Inexpectation	Unexpected, unanticipated, unpredicted, unlooked for, unforeseen, unhoped for; dropped from the clouds; beyond expectation, contrary to expectation, against expectation, against all expectation; out of one's reckoning; unheard of; (exceptional); startling, surprising; sudden; (instantaneous).
Intention	Adjective: fortuitous; unintentional, unintended; accidental; not meant; undesigned, purposed; unpremeditated; unforeseen, uncontemplated, never thought of.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	No unforeseen disasters so far. (The Muppet Show; writing credit: Joseph A. Bailey; Jack Burns) You don't call that an unforeseen disaster? (The Muppet Show; writing credit: Joseph A. Bailey; Jack Burns) Okay, captain, this is just a standard legal release, protecting Planet Express from lawsuits in the event of the unforeseen. (Futurama; writing credit: Lance Smith; Carl Colpaert)
Movie/TV Titles	Unforeseen (2002)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Chance Encounters: True Stories of Unforeseen Meetings, With Unanticipated Results (reference) Crystals of the Unforeseen (reference) The Unforeseen (reference) The Unforeseen Self in the Works of Wendell Berry (reference) Unforeseen (reference) (more book examples)

Music	Unforeseen Events (reference) Unforeseen (reference) Unforeseen Blessings (reference) Unforeseen Shadows (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Henri B. Stendhal	A wise woman never yields by appointment. It should always be an unforeseen happiness.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Author	Date	Quotation
John Locke	1690	Prerogative being nothing but a power, in the hands of the prince, to provide for the public good, in such cases, which depending upon unforeseen and uncertain occurrences, certain and unalterable laws could not safely direct; whatsoever shall be done manifestly for the good of the people, and the establishing the government upon its true foundations, is, and always will be, just prerogative, The power of erecting new corporations, and therewith new representatives, carries with it a supposition, that in time the measures of representation might vary, and those places have a just right to be represented which before had none; and by the same reason, those cease to have a right, and be too inconsiderable for such a privilege, which before had it. (Second Treatise of Government)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	An unforeseen expenditure.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Unless studies are conducted soon, we may lose the opportunity and pay a price in unforeseen and untoward outcomes. (references)
Business		Medical institutions shy away from unknown brand names and foreign companies, believing that after purchasing the product they will be abandoned to face any unforeseen problems alone. (references)
		The decline of the railways as a means of moving people and freight was encouraged during the 1960s by central government planners, but the explosive growth of road transport that resulted was unforeseen. (references)
		However, with international marine trade expected to reach unforeseen levels, the Chinese shipping industry will be required to modernize and reinvent itself in order to stay competitive and operate efficiently and economically in the global and domestic markets. (references)
Economic History	Zambia	Privatization of the economy in general allows quicker and more flexible responses to unforeseen economic developments. (references)
	Peru	Barring unforeseen external shocks, expectations are that the rate at the end of 2001 will be about 3.60 sols to the dollar. (references)
	Germany	In 2001, the federal deficit statistics will also be affected by any federal assistance to the city of Berlin, which is facing an unforeseen financial crisis. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Benjamin Harrison	1889-1893	We will fortunately be able to apply to the redemption of the public debt any small and unforeseen excess of revenue.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Unforeseen" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.40% of the time. "Unforeseen" is used about 167 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	99.4%	166	24,220
Noun (proper)	0.6%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	167	N/A

Expressions using "unforeseen": barring the unforeseen ♦ due to unforeseen circumstances ♦ sudden and unforeseen damage ♦ unforeseen circumstances ♦ unforeseen delay ♦ unforeseen expenses ♦ unforeseen interruptions. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "unforeseen"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		i papritur (abrupt, accidental, precipitate, sudden, surprising, unasked, uncontemplated, undreamed of, undreamt of, unexpected, unhoped, unlooked for, unrehearsed), i paparashikuar (unexpected, unrehearsed), i paparaparë. (various references)

Arabic		‏مفاجئ (abrupt, at sea, flash, like a bolt from the blue, precipitate, snappy, sudden, surprised, surprising, swift, unexpected, unlooked for, unpredicted), ‏غير متوقع (abrogation, fortuitous, sudden, unexpected, unlooked for). (various references)

Bulgarian		неочакван (accidental, emergent, snap, strange, sudden, surprise, surprising, swift, unanticipated, uncontemplated, undreamed of, undreamt of, unexpected, unhoped-for, unlooked for, unrehearsed, unsought, unsuspected), непредвиден (casual, contingent, fortuitous, unanticipated, uncontemplated, undesigned, unexpected, unlooked for, unthought of). (various references)

Chinese		未预见到. (various references)

Czech		nepředvídaný (unexpected). (various references)

Danish		uforudsete afbrydelser (unforeseen interruptions), reserve til uforudsete udgifter (contingency reserve, margin for all unforeseen expenditure), pludselig og uforudset skade (sudden and unforeseen damage), med forbehold af uforudsete omstaendigheder (unforeseen circumstances excepted). (various references)

Dutch		reserve voor onvoorziene uitgaven (contingency reserve, margin for all unforeseen expenditure), plotselinge en onvoorziene schade (sudden and unforeseen damage), onvoorziene onderbrekingen (unforeseen interruptions), onvoorziene omstandigheden voorbehouden (unforeseen circumstances excepted), marge voor onvoorziene uitgaven (contingency reserve, margin for all unforeseen expenditure). (various references)

Farsi		پیش بینی نشده . (various references)

Finnish		arvaamaton (incalculable, inestimable, invaluable, unlookedfor), aavistamaton (unexpected), äkkiarvaamaton (unexpected, unlooked-for). (various references)

French		imprévu (unexpected, unforeseeable, unplanned). (various references)

German		unvorhergesehen (unexpected, unexpectedly, unforeseenly, unlocked-for). (various references)

Greek		απρόοπτοσ (contingent, unexpected), απροσδόκητοσ (abrupt, unexecuted, unexpected, unlooked for, unthought of). (various references)

Hungarian		váratlan (abrupt, balk, chance, fortuitous, snap, sudden, to blitzkrieg, to strike oil, unanticipated, uncontemplated, unexpected, unlooked for). (various references)

Indonesian		tak terduga. (various references)

Italian		imprevisto (sudden, unexpected, unimagined). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		不慮 (accidental). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		おもいもよらない (inconceivable, unexpected), ふそく (accidental, additional clause, additional rules, by-laws, dearth, deficiency, insufficiency, lack, shortage, supplementary provisions, unexpected), ふい (abrupt, sudden, unexpected), ふりょ (accidental, captive, prisoner of war), よそうがい (strange, unexpected). (various references)

Korean		의외 (unexpected). (various references)

Manx		gyn fakin rolaue, gyn faaishnys. (various references)

Pig Latin		oreseenunfay

Portuguese		súbito (abrupt, sudden), inopinado (abrupt, sudden, uncontemplated, unexpected), inesperado (abrupt, accidental, knocker, sudden, unexpected, unhoped, unlooked for), imprevisto (contretemps, sudden, surprising, uncontemplated, undesigned, unexpected, unlooked for, unpredictable). (various references)

Romanian		neprevãzut (extemporaneous, fortuitous, snap, stray, unexpected, unlooked for), neaşteptat (abrupt, snap, sudden, undreamed of, unexpected, unlooked for, wayward), inopinat (snap, sudden). (various references)

Russian		непредвиденный (emergency, incalculable, unanticipated, uncontemplated, unexpected, unlooked for, unlooked-for). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		nepredviđen (unexpected, unpredicted). (various references)

Spanish		margen para imprevistos (contingency reserve, margin for all unforeseen expenditure), interrupciones imprevistas (unforeseen interruptions), debido a circunstancias (due to unforeseen circumstances), daño repentino e imprevisto (sudden and unforeseen damage). (various references)

Swedish		oförutsedd (unsuspected). (various references)

Turkish		umulmadık (improbable, sudden, unexpected, unhoped, unhoped-for, unimagined, unlooked for, unsuspected, unthought of), beklenmedik (abrupt, adventitious, heaven-sent, improbable, snap, sudden, surprise, unannounced, unexpected, unhoped, unhoped-for, unimagined, unlooked for). (various references)

Vietnamese		không dự kiến; bất ngờ, không biết trước. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	insperatae. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Misspellings
	"Unforeseen" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: unforseen. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "unforeseen" (pronounced u'nfôrsē"n)
4	-r s ē" n	foreseen.
3	-s ē" n	casein, obscene, scene, seen, unseen, vaccine.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "e-e-e-f-n-n-o-r-s-u"
	-2 letters: fenurons, foreseen, neurones.
	-3 letters: fenuron, foresee, neurone, neurons, nonuser, unfrees.
	-4 letters: enserf, ensure, enures, funner, neuron, nonuse, refuse, reseen, rouens, serene, unfree, unseen.
	-5 letters: ensue, enure, ernes, erose, euros, feres, ferns, fores, fours, frees, froes, frons, fusee, nenes, neons, nones, nouns, nurse, reefs, resee, reuse, rouen, roues, rouse, runes, senor, sneer, snore.
	Words containing the letters "e-e-e-f-n-n-o-r-s-u"
	+5 letters: fortunatenesses, wonderfulnesses.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.