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forthcoming.

Approaching or about to take place.

11 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/fɔːθˈkʌmɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation/fɔɹθˈkʌmɪŋ/General-American
  1. Approaching or about to take place.

    not-comparable
    I shall vote in the forthcoming election.
  2. Available when needed; in place, ready.

    The money was not forthcoming.
  3. Willing to co-operate or provide information; candid, frank, responsive.

    Once I explained why I needed to know, she was really forthcoming.
Where this word comes from

The adjective is derived from forth (“forwards”) + coming (“approaching (adjective)”); or from Middle English forth commyng, *forthcominge, present participle of forth-comen (“to come forth; to appear, issue”), from Old English forþcuman (“to come forth, come forward”) (present participle *forþcumende), from forþ- (“forth; forward”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + cuman (“to come”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”)). Compare Dutch voortkomend (“coming forth, originating from (verb)”), German fortkommend (“getting away; progressing (verb)”). The noun is derived from forth (“forwards”) + coming (“arrival”).

noun/fɔːθˈkʌmɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation/fɔɹθˈkʌmɪŋ/General-American
  1. An act of coming forth.

  2. Something that is yet to come.

Where this word comes from

The adjective is derived from forth (“forwards”) + coming (“approaching (adjective)”); or from Middle English forth commyng, *forthcominge, present participle of forth-comen (“to come forth; to appear, issue”), from Old English forþcuman (“to come forth, come forward”) (present participle *forþcumende), from forþ- (“forth; forward”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + cuman (“to come”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”)). Compare Dutch voortkomend (“coming forth, originating from (verb)”), German fortkommend (“getting away; progressing (verb)”). The noun is derived from forth (“forwards”) + coming (“arrival”).

verb/fɔːθˈkʌmɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation/fɔɹθˈkʌmɪŋ/General-American
  1. present participle and gerund of forthcome

    form-of · gerund · participle · present
Where this word comes from

From forthcome + -ing.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.