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foreword

noun

Simple meaning

A short introductory essay preceding the text of a book.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

fawrwerd

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfɔɹwɚd

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A short introductory essay preceding the text of a book

  2. An introductory section preceding the main text of a book or other document; especially, one written by another person (not the author of the work thus introduced).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: A short introductory essay preceding the text of a book

Used this way, foreword is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use foreword

  • “The author asked a famous professor to write the foreword for his new book.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

contents forewordpage forewordvii forewordnew forewordseries forewordindex forewordamerica forewordsee foreword

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Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: short introductory essay preceding the text of a book

preface

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.