Meaning

To detect the scent of (something) before it is present..

Definitions by Sense

1. To detect the scent of (something) before it is present.
2. (figuratively) To detect or become aware of (something) in advance.
3. A scent that indicates something in advance.

Example Sentences

birds and wild animals forescent a storm, or an earthquake

[…] the white goose, The saviour of the Roman citadel, Forescents afar the odour of mankind.

1872, Henry Norman Hudson, Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Boston: Ginn & Company, Othello, the Moor of Venice, p. 462, the sagacity with which Iago feels and forescents his way into Roderigo

1915, Frederick Goodyear, letter to F.W. Leith Ross in Letters and Remains: 1887-1917, London: McBride, Nast, 1920, p. 94, Possibly we instinctively forescented the war.

an appalling forescent of his own near approaching discomfiture

The patriarchs and prophets inhaled the sweet odour of Christ, Who was preordained to be born and to die in the flesh; yet they did not then give forth the same odour, because they could not exhibit in the flesh Him of Whom they had a fore-scent in the spirit.

An allusion to the garlic breath of the groundlings provides a forescent of the evil smells that pervade the Genoan court.

She opened the door on the night and felt the sudden damp forescent of autumn brush past her.

Word Forms

• forescents
• forescenting
• forescented

Synonyms for forescent

Related Words

When Should You Use Forescent?

Use forescent when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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