Future

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈfjuːtʃə/
• US IPA: /ˈfjuːtʃɚ/
• Rhymes: -uːtʃə(ɹ)

Origin

From Old French futur, from Latin futūrus, irregular future active participle of sum ("I am"), from Proto-Indo-European *bhū-, *bʰew- ("to become, be"). Cognate with Old English bēo ("I become, I will be, I am"). More at be.

Full definition of future

Noun

1. The time ahead; those moments yet to be experienced.
2. Something that will happen in moments yet to come.
3. Goodness in what is yet to come/Something to look forward to.
• 2013-08-03, Revenge of the nerds, 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.
4. There is no future in dwelling on the past.
5. (grammar) Verb tense used to talk about events that will happen in the future; future tense.
6. (finance) An agreement between two parties that one will sell the other a specific commodity at a specific later date and a specific price.

Usage notes

(finance) The one who agrees to, at a future date, sell the commodity is considered to be selling the future; the other buys it.

Coordinate terms

• (finance) forward

Adjective

1. Having to do with or occurring in the future.Future generations will either laugh or cry at our stupidity.

Derived terms

• futurism
• futurist
• futuristic
• retro future