future

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
future/ˈfjuːtʃə(r)/

▶noun

• 1 (the future) time that is still to come.

  ■ events or conditions that will or are likely to occur at a later date.

• 2 a prospect of success or happiness: I might have a future as an artist.

• 3 Grammar a tense of verbs expressing events that have not yet happened.

• 4 (futures) contracts for assets (especially commodities or shares) bought at agreed prices but delivered and paid for later. Compare with forward (in sense 2).

▶adjective

• 1 existing or occurring in the future.

  ■ planned or destined to hold a specified position: his future wife.

• 2 Grammar (of a tense) expressing an event yet to happen.

– phrases
in future from now onwards.

– derivatives
futureless adjective.

– origin ME: via OFr. from L. futurus, future part. of esse ‘be’ (from the stem fu-, ult. from a base meaning ‘grow, become’).