foregone conclusion, a

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]
An outcome regarded as inevitable, as in The victory was a foregone conclusion .

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Example Sentences

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He speaks about a strong U.S.-India relationship as a foregone conclusion, a “defining chapter” that he and the Biden administration are already etching into history.

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In the end, “Breaking” feels like a foregone conclusion: a dismal portrait of a system — and a someone — already irreparably broken.

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In progressive American foreign-policy circles, meanwhile, China’s eventual control of Taiwan is often a foregone conclusion — a sheepish shrug at the end of an exhausted, over-rung forever war.

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Maybe we’re too scrambled by hope to see a favorable forecast as anything but a foregone conclusion — a Nate accompli if you will — and too prone to disappointment to see an unlikely occurrence as anything but a system failure.

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That seemed to be a foregone conclusion a few weeks ago, before the Cavaliers fell back to the pack following road losses at Miami and Louisville, in addition to a nonconference loss at Notre Dame.

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afore aforehand

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