Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having gone before; previous.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • That has gone before; previous; past; former.
  • Predetermined; made up or settled beforehand.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective past; -- used of time. Contrassted to present.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Past participle of forego
  • adjective previous, former
  • adjective bygone
  • adjective informal inevitable, predictable

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective well in the past; former

Etymologies

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Examples

  • And don't rich people thinking of moving to Oregon consider the 9-10% in foregone sales tax when they purchase their next Mercedes or Hobey-Cat?

    Another Oregon tax increase, doomed to failure? (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • Fourth, a malpractice case is a huge risk, a massive time sink (opportunity cost in foregone billing), among many other things including the reputational hit.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » 13 States File Suit Against Health Care Reform 2010

  • A study in foregone conclusions -- Parliamentary elections in North Korea.

    Short Takes 2009

  • Under the base case, a BHP takeover would cost $200 million a year over a decade in foregone government revenue, or 2% of the total, and would present "minimal" risk to the province.

    Eastern Promise Looks Empty for Potash Liam Denning 2010

  • Other than that, it seemed to be a study in foregone conclusions, and the only thing worth waiting for during the half-time show was to see if the Rollings Stones had a wardrobe malfunction.

    February 2006 2006

  • The response to this study in foregone conclusions has been predictable; the White House went into fits of apoplexy, blamed the media, and then tried to get ahead of the story by releasing three pages of the document to bolster its claim that everything was going swimmingly in Iraq.

    October 2006 2006

  • That may be due to the fact that there are so few contested races down here, and the Senate race between Katherine Harris and Bill Nelson is a study in foregone conclusions.

    October 2006 2006

  • To put it differently, the current tax system is costing us $8 billion annually in foregone production opportunities.

    Tax Reform 1987

  • Subsequently a combination of Vidic's suspension, following his dismissal for bringing down Steven Gerrard, and Ferdinand's fitness problems have chipped away at the defensive rock which was beginning to make United's extended retention of the title a foregone conclusion.

    Football news, match reports and fixtures | guardian.co.uk David Lacey 2009

  • If he gets 30% it will be characterized as a foregone conclusion by 7: 32.

    Obama Expected To Lose Big In Today's West Virginia Primary 2009

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