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forecast

/ˈfɔːrkæst/·verb

to say in advance what is likely to come, based on data and patterns
Fig. 1 — The board speaks first: TOMORROW, a cloud, three dashed strokes of rain that does not exist yet.
01Definition

To forecast is to say in advance what is coming — weather, sales, growth — by reading the pattern of what has already happened. Built from fore- ('before') and cast ('to throw, to reckon'), the word keeps a thrown line in it: something sent ahead of the boat. A forecast is more disciplined than a guess; forecasters extrapolate from records and models, attach probabilities, and expect to be graded when tomorrow arrives — which is why the word belongs to professionals in a way plain guessing never will.

02In use
  • iMeteorologists forecast rain for the coast, and by noon the harbour was under it.
  • iiThe bank cut its growth forecast after two weak quarters in a row.
  • iiiSales are forecast to rise sharply once the new model ships; analysts anticipate a strong season.
03Collocations
  • the weather forecast
  • a sales forecast
  • is forecast to rise
  • an accurate forecast
  • forecast growth

Family forecaster (noun) · forecasting (noun) · forecast (noun)

04Relations

=predict, project, anticipate, foresee, estimate

≠hindsight, retrospection

06TOEFL & IELTS

The IELTS Task 1 verb for charts that reach into the future: when a graph shows projected years, 'sales are forecast to double by 2030' is the exact reporting frame — passive, hedged, professional. Two traps: the past tense is forecast (like broadcast, on the irregular verb cast), with forecasted attested but second-choice; and unlike record or present, noun and verb are BOTH stressed on FORE-. Collocation range is wide: weather, sales, growth forecast; an accurate, gloomy, revised forecast.

07Asked
Is the past tense forecast or forecasted?
Both exist, but forecast is preferred: 'the bureau forecast rain yesterday'. The word inherits its grammar from the irregular verb cast (cast–cast–cast), the same reason broadcasters broadcast and never 'broadcasted' in careful prose. Forecasted appears in print and is not wrong, but style guides and most dictionaries put the uninflected form first — when unsure, drop the -ed.
What is the difference between a forecast and a prediction?
A forecast is the disciplined kind of prediction: built from data, models, and stated probabilities, and usually about a measurable future — weather, sales, demand. A prediction can be all that or none of it; a fortune-teller predicts, a meteorologist forecasts. In the scene above, the board's dashed rain is a forecast precisely because the pattern, not a hunch, put it there.
Is forecast a noun or a verb?
Both, and — unusually — they sound identical: FORE-cast carries the stress up front whether you check the forecast or forecast the weather. That makes it an exception to the noun-verb stress shift of record, present, and permit, and a small trap in reverse: learners who have learned that pattern sometimes invent 'fore-CAST' for the verb. Do not — in both varieties the standard beat stays on FORE-.
What does forecasting mean in business?
Estimating future demand, sales, revenue, or cash flow from historical data so decisions can be made before the future arrives — how much stock to order, how many staff to roster. Businesses forecast the way meteorologists do: pattern first, projection second, revision when the actuals land. The nouns that follow it name the target: a sales forecast, a growth forecast, a cash-flow forecast.
What does 'is forecast to' mean in news reports?
It is the passive reporting frame for model-backed expectations: 'growth is forecast to slow' means the projections, not the writer's hunch, point that way. The phrase quietly credits an authority — someone did the forecasting — while keeping the sentence about the outcome. It is also the exact construction IELTS Task 1 wants for charts whose lines run past the present.
Where does the word forecast come from?
From fore- 'before, in front' plus cast 'to throw, to reckon' — a fourteenth-century compound meaning to plan or contrive ahead. The casting is the reckoning kind, as in the old bookkeeping phrase 'casting accounts': a calculation thrown forward of the facts. The weather sense is surprisingly young — it took hold in the 1860s, when Robert FitzRoy began publishing the first official daily weather forecasts and wanted a soberer word than 'prophecy'.