The AI-powered English dictionary
countable and uncountable, plural futures
The time ahead; those moments yet to be experienced. quotations examples
This solitary attitude stems in part from a deep sense of fatalism and futility, a profound social effect of the genophage that caused krogan numbers to dwindle to a relative handful. Not only are they angry that the entire galaxy seems out to get them, the krogan are also generally pessimistic about their race's chances of survival. The surviving krogan see no point to building for the future; there will be no future. The krogan live with an attitude of "kill, pillage, and be selfish, for tomorrow we die."
2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Krogan: Culture Codex entry
Something that will happen in moments yet to come. examples
Goodness in what is yet to come. Something to look forward to. quotations examples
Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.
2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847
The likely prospects for or fate of someone or something in time to come. quotations examples
Again, it's unlikely they will return to traffic, but futures have been secured for four that will be heading to heritage railways [...].
2020 May 20, John Crosse, “Soon to be gone... but never forgotten”, in Rail, page 63
(grammar) Verb tense used to talk about events that will happen in the future; future tense. examples
(finance) Alternative form of futures examples
(computing, programming) An object that retrieves the value of a promise. examples
(sports) A minor-league prospect. examples
not comparable
Having to do with or occurring in the future. quotations examples
So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company
Audio (US)(file)
2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 7 February 2019:It[The study] also attempts to predict the future progression of AI as it relates to new inventions.