future

noun, adj — 9 senses

future

noun

UK /ˈfjuː.t͡ʃəː/ · US /ˈfju.t͡ʃɚ/

Etymology From Middle English future, futur, from Old French futur, from Latin futūrus, irregular future active participle of sum (“to be”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to become, be”). Cognate with Old English bēo (“to become, will be; to be”). More at be. Doublet of futur. Displaced native Old English tōweard, which took on a different meaning as toward, and Middle English afterhede (“future”, literally “afterhood”) in the given sense.

8 senses
  1. 1The time ahead; those moments yet to be experienced.
  2. 2Something that will happen in moments yet to come.
  3. 3Goodness in what is yet to come. Something to look forward to.
  4. 4The likely prospects for or fate of someone or something…
  5. 5Verb tense used to talk about events that will happen in…
  6. 6Alternative form of futures.
  7. 7An object that retrieves the value of a promise.
  8. 8A minor-league prospect.
1

The time ahead; those moments yet to be experienced.

  • 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."2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Krogan: Culture Codex entry:
2

Something that will happen in moments yet to come.

3

Goodness in what is yet to come. Something to look forward to.

  • There is no future in dwelling on the past.
  • 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.2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
4

The likely prospects for or fate of someone or something in time to come.

  • Again, it's unlikely they will return to traffic, but futures have been secured for four that will be heading to heritage railways [...].2020 May 20, John Crosse, “Soon to be gone... but never forgotten”, in Rail, page 63:
5

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Verb tense used to talk about events that will happen in the future; future tense.

6

Business, Finance Alternative Alternative form of futures.

7

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences An object that retrieves the value of a promise.

8

Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A minor-league prospect.

Synonyms
to-come, toward
Derived terms
70 termsBack to the Future Day, call-by-future, cyberfuture, eternity future, 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
Coordinate terms
forward

future

adj

Etymology From Middle English future, futur, from Old French futur, from Latin futūrus, irregular future active participle of sum (“to be”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to become, be”). Cognate with Old English bēo (“to become, will be; to be”). More at be. Doublet of futur. Displaced native Old English tōweard, which took on a different meaning as toward, and Middle English afterhede (“future”, literally “afterhood”) in the given sense.

1

Having to do with or occurring in the future.

  • Future generations will either laugh or cry at our stupidity.
  • So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills,[…]a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
1 more example
  • It[The study] also attempts to predict the future progression of AI as it relates to new inventions.2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019:
Synonyms
unborn, coming, future, hereafter, toward
Antonyms
past, present
Derived terms
futureness, future perfect, future simple, simple future, futurism, futurist, futuristic, futurity, retro future
Related terms
the future
Hyponyms
impending, subsequent, long term, near term, short term

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.