futures
- 1Plural of future.
The novel imagines several possible futures for humanity after the collapse.
Career counselors help students weigh the different futures open to them.
Note
The plural belongs to the countable uses of future: separate prospects or possible outcomes, as when a novel imagines several futures or a student weighs the futures open to them. The time ahead in general stays singular. Watch the homograph: the same spelling is also the trading word, a different word, and future in the singular can stand in for that one too.
- 2Short form of futures contract.
She trades oil futures on the commodities market.
Investors bought wheat futures to hedge against a sudden price swing.
Note
The -s survives even when only one contract is meant. Specialists write "a Eurodollar futures is a futures contract" and "when the futures is at a premium," pairing it with a singular verb. More often it reads as an ordinary plural, as in oil futures or wheat futures. It also works before another noun, as in futures markets, futures indices and a futures call option, and the -s stays there too.
futures is a form of future
future, noun: The time that is still to come, and what will happen in it. Full entry
- Forms
- futurefutures plural
- Spelling
- future → futures: add -s
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of futures apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
A shortening of the term "futures contract."