English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From fore- +‎ purpose.

Noun edit

forepurpose (plural forepurposes)

  1. A predetermined purpose
    • 1827, William Carpenter, Critica Biblica:
      According to the forepurpose of eternity, which he wrought in Christ Jesus, the Lord of us; [...]
    • 1911, William Porcher Dubose, The Reason of Life:
      Man in the mind of God, in the eternal foreknowledge and forepurpose of God, man "as he shall be when his becoming shall be complete," is not less but more man than in his inchoate beginnings and in his incomplete processes.
    • 2009, Joseph Everett Early, The Life and Writings of Thomas Helwys:
      Out of his own forepurpose and will, he has cast away some to be damned which would not and should not be saved, and they out of necessity must be damned and so he has particularly redeemed some, and left others to perish.
    • 2013, Delphi Complete Works of Homer:
      To him the Thunderer: “Thou know'st this council by the rest of those fore-purposes That still inclined me; my cares must still succour the distress Of Troy; [...]”