foregone conclusion, a

foregone conclusion

1. An inevitable result. After how poorly the team has played so far this season, it's a foregone conclusion that they won't make it to the championship.2. A view or belief that one has before receiving all pertinent information. Don't come to any foregone conclusions about the accident, all right? Let me tell you the whole story first.See also: conclusion, foregone

foregone conclusion

Cliché a conclusion already reached; an inevitable result. That the company was moving to California was a foregone conclusion. That the mayor will win reelection is a foregone conclusion.See also: conclusion, foregone

foregone conclusion, a

1. An outcome regarded as inevitable, as in The victory was a foregone conclusion. 2. A conclusion formed in advance of argument or consideration, as in The jury was warned to consider all of the evidence and not base their decision on a foregone conclusion . This idiom probably was invented by Shakespeare ( Othello, 3:3) but scholars are not agreed as to his precise meaning. [c. 1600] See also: foregone

a ˌforegone conˈclusion

a result that is certain to happen: It’s a foregone conclusion that Spain will win tonight’s match.See also: conclusion, foregone

foregone conclusion, a

A result that is already known and therefore is taken for granted. The term comes from Shakespeare’s Othello (3.3), in which, after hearing Iago’s lie about Cassio talking in his sleep of his love affair with Desdemona, Othello says this “dream” is a “foregone conclusion”—that is, it clearly denotes that his wife has been unfaithful to him with Cassio (as Iago intended him to believe all along). Some four centuries later the term is still around: “But it could be argued that it was a surprise so many Spaniards were prepared to take part in a vote which was a foregone conclusion” (Economist, Feb. 26, 2005).See also: foregone