Definition of "future" []

• The indefinite time yet to come: will try to do better in the future. (noun)
• Something that will happen in time to come: "The future comes apace” ( Shakespeare). (noun)
• A prospective or expected condition, especially one considered with regard to growth, advancement, or development: a business with no future. (noun)
• Business Commodities or stocks bought or sold upon agreement of delivery in time to come. (noun)
• Grammar The form of a verb used in speaking of action that has not yet occurred or of states not yet in existence. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In addition, if that debate was intended to secure from the Government an intimation of future policy against Southern shipbuilding it was conducted on wrong lines for _immediate_ effect -- though friends of the North may have thought the method used was wise for _future_ effect."
• "But, as he gained a little strength from the genial season, the pure country air, and the release from gloomy thoughts which his rambles afforded, the end was farther removed, and a future -- though brief, perhaps, still a _future_ -- began to glimmer before him."
• "Science Fiction is not about predicting or anticipating the future, it's about helping us prepare for the future, * any future* and exploring the consequences of actions and situations."