prescientadj.

Brit.

/ˈprɛsɪənt/, U.S.

/ˈprɛʃ(i)ənt/

Forms: 1500s– prescient, 1600s–1700s praescient.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymons: Latin praescient-, praesciens.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin praescient-, praesciens, present participle of praescire to know beforehand (Vetus Latina; early 3rd cent. in Tertullian) < classical Latin prae- pre- prefix + scīre to know (see science n.); compare earlier prescience n., and classical Latin praescīscere to get to know beforehand. Compare Middle French, French prescient (c1260 in Old French; subsequently in late 14th cent. in Middle French, and again from 1842), Italian presciente (1611 in Florio). N.E.D. (1908) gives the pronunciation as (prī·ʃiĕnt) /ˈpriːʃɪənt/. For further information on pronunciation see prescience n.

1. Having foreknowledge or foresight; foreseeing.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > [adjective] > having or demonstrating foresight

foreknowingc1374

fore-wisec1540

(a person) of a far fetch1574

forecastful1576

foresightfula1586

prescientc1599

far-sighted1641

prescious1642

foresighted1660

long-headed1665

prescientiala1699

long-sighted1701

prevoyant1785

precognizant1840

telescopic1856

far-thinking1937

precognitive1974

c1599 Preservation of King Henry VII i. l. 189 Gods will prescient prescribes a determinate order.

a1626 F. Bacon Hist. Great Brit. in Wks. (1879) I. 796/1 The providence of king Henry the seventh was in all men's mouths; who..showed himself sensible and almost prescient of this event.

1722 R. Blackmore Redemption ii. 56 Th' illumination wonderful attest, And own the impulse of the prescient guest.

1733 A. Pope Ess. Man iii. 101 Prescient, the Tydes or Tempests to withstand.

1798 Anti-Jacobin 9 July 284/1 Or, like the Pimparnel, whose prescient flow'r, Shuts her soft petals at evening's chilly hour.

1845 B. Disraeli Sybil III. vi. xi. 275 Gerard prescient that some trouble might in consequence occur there.

1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. I. iv. 46 James Harrington, one of the most prescient minds of that great age.

1954 C. R. Attlee As it Happened xx. 175 Ernest Bevin, who was always prescient in such matters.

1992 M. Medved Hollywood vs. Amer. vi. xvii. 280 Twenty-one years after he penned these words, they seem positively prescient as a description of Hollywood's reigning aesthetic.

2. Of, relating to, or arising from prescience.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > [adjective]

previsional1643

prescient1653

previsive1736

previsionary1818

precognitive1869

precog1954

1653 R. Mason in J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis (rev. ed.) Let. to Author sig. ***1^v He disproportioned his affections by the banefull brousing upon one vegetable,..the built whereof, by prescient decree, so stained the face of nature [etc.].

1717 in J. Dryden et al. tr. Ovid Metamorphoses ix. 315 When Themis thus with prescient voice had spoke.

a1771 C. Smart Hop-Garden ii. in Poems (1791) I. 147 In the hall Sheds Niobe her prescient tears.

1814 M. Edgeworth Patronage III. xxviii. 151 The prescient jealousy of Miss Georgiana Falconer boded ill of this visit to Hungerford-Castle.

1860 W. Collins Woman in White (new ed.) I. 106 The prescient sadness of a coming and a long farewell.

1929 PMLA 44 1050 Gonzago's ridiculous pride in his own prescient wisdom is best illustrated in the speech to his daughter.

1985 I. Murdoch Good Apprentice ii. 149 Perhaps in spite of his delicately prescient anxiety not to, he had pressed him too far.

Derivatives

† presciential adj. Obsolete = sense 2.

ΘΚΠ