future
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: note: r
enpr: fyo͞o'chə
ipa: /ˈfjuː.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˈfju.t͡ʃɚ/
rhymes: -uːtʃə(ɹ)
Forms: form: futures
Etymology: From Middle English future, futur, from Old French futur, from Latin futūrus, irregular future active participle of sum (“I am”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to become, be”). Cognate with Old English bēo (“I become, I will be, I am”). More at be. Displaced native Old English tōweard, which took on a different meaning as toward, and Middle English afterhede (“future”, literally “afterhood”) in the given sense.
Senses: examples: text: This solitary attitude stems in part from a deep sense of fatalism and futility, a profound social effect of the genophage that caused krogan numbers to dwindle to a relative handful. Not only are they angry that the entire galaxy seems out to get them, the krogan are also generally pessimistic about their race's chances of survival. The surviving krogan see no point to building for the future; there will be no future. The krogan live with an attitude of "kill, pillage, and be selfish, for tomorrow we die."
ref: 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Krogan: Culture Codex entry:
glosses: The time ahead; those moments yet to be experienced.
glosses: Something that will happen in moments yet to come.
examples: text: There is no future in dwelling on the past.
text: Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.
ref: 2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
glosses: Goodness in what is yet to come. Something to look forward to.
examples: text: Again, it's unlikely they will return to traffic, but futures have been secured for four that will be heading to heritage railways [...].
ref: 2020 May 20, John Crosse, “Soon to be gone... but never forgotten”, in Rail, page 63:
glosses: The likely prospects for or fate of someone or something in time to come.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: Verb tense used to talk about events that will happen in the future; future tense.
topics: business
finance
glosses: Alternative form of futures.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
programming
sciences
glosses: An object that retrieves the value of a promise.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A minor-league prospect.
Synonyms: sense: time or moments yet to be experienced
word: to-come
word: toward
word: the future
Coordinate terms: topics: finance
business
word: forward
Derived terms: Back to the Future Day
call-by-future
cyberfuture
futurable
futural
futurama
future bass
future continuous
future contract
futured
future endeavor
futurefic
future funk
future garage
future history
future house
future interest
futureless
futurelessness
futurely
futureness
future participle
future perfect
future perfect continuous
future perfect progressive
futurepop
future progressive
future-proof
futureproof
future proof
futurescape
future shock
future simple
future studies
future tense
future war
futureward
futurewards
futureworld
futurey
futurism
futurist
futuritial
futurition
futurity
futurization
futurize
futurology
futurous
Ghost of Christmas Future
idea future
in future
in the future
in the near future
neofuturism
nonfuture
nonfuturistic
pass-by-future
paulo-post-future
retrofuture
retro future
retrofuturism
retrofuturistic
synthetic future
telefuture
the future is now
timetable future
unfutured
unfuturistic