Foreshadowing
noun /ˌfɔːˈʃædəʊɪŋ/ — A hint within a story of what is to come.
Definition
The craft technique of introducing a hint — through image, detail, or dialogue — of events that will occur later in a narrative. Skilled foreshadowing makes the ending feel inevitable in retrospect, surprising in the moment.
Beyond the definition
The best foreshadowing is invisible the first time you read it. You only see it on the second pass, when you know where things are going. Then the whole story reorganises itself — the early pages suddenly dense with what you'd missed.
Origin & history
From 'fore-' (before) + 'shadow' — to cast a shadow before the thing that casts it arrives. The metaphor is exact: a shadow arrives before the body that throws it.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
The broken clock in chapter one was foreshadowing — you just didn't know it yet.
She uses foreshadowing so subtly that even careful readers miss it the first time.
Good foreshadowing doesn't announce itself; it whispers.
Synonyms
Antonyms
flashback, retrospect
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Seedling Against Chain
An orator on stage contrasts a fragile seedling in one hand against a heavy iron chain, hinting at an inevitable conflict.
The contrast between the fragile seedling and the heavy chain acts as foreshadowing. It hints at the tension between growth and burden, making the listener feel the ending of their conflict is inevitable, even while the speaker's analysis is surprising in the moment.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration