foreshock

A smaller tremor that occurs before the main shock of an earthquake.

• 🇫🇷Secousse sismique de moindre intensité qui précède le choc principal d'un tremblement de terre.

1. Preliminary seismic event C1 formal scientific

   A smaller earthquake that occurs before a larger mainshock, often serving as a warning sign.

   • Seismologists recorded a foreshock just minutes before the major earthquake struck.
   • The foreshock was barely felt by residents, but it alerted scientists to the impending danger.
   • Not all earthquakes have a foreshock, making prediction difficult.

   🇫🇷Séisme précurseur

   Antonymes: aftershock

• foreshocks plural form
• foreshocks' possessive plural form
• foreshock's possessive singular form