future

noun

• 1 (usually the future) a period of time following the moment of speaking or writing; time regarded as still to come:we plan on getting married in the near future work on the building will be shelved for the foreseeable future
• events that will or are likely to happen in time to come:nobody can predict the future
• the likely prospects for or fate of someone or something in time to come:MPs will debate the future of the railways
• a prospect of success or happiness:he’d decided that there was no future in the gang I began to believe I might have a future as an artist
• Grammar a tense of verbs expressing events that have not yet happened.

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

adjective

• at a later time; going or likely to happen or exist:the needs of future generations
• (of a person) planned or destined to hold a specified position:his future wife
• existing after death:heaven and the future life with Christ
• Grammar (of a tense) expressing an event yet to happen.