prophesy
/ˈprɒfɪsʌɪ
/verb (prophesies, prophesying, prophesied) [with object]
Say that (a specified thing) will happen in the future: Jacques was prophesying a bumper harvest [with clause]: the papers prophesied that he would resign after the weekend...
- Gloucester visits Henry, who intuits his son is dead and prophesies Gloucester's future slaughter by recalling the evil omens of his birth.
- For those who don't have the possibility to learn astrology, there are simpler and easier methods to prophesy their future.
- It's clearly prophesied in the Holy Scriptures.
Synonyms
predict, foretell, forecast, foresee, forewarn of, prognosticate, divine
archaic augur, presage, previse, foreshow, croak
Scottish archaic spae
rare vaticinate, auspicate
Usage
The words prophesy and prophecy are often confused. Prophesy is the spelling that should be used for the verb (he was prophesying a bumper harvest), whereas prophecy is the correct spelling for the noun (a bleak prophecy of war and ruin). The differentiation between the spellings of the noun and verb was not established until after 1700 and has no etymological basis, prophesy being at first a spelling variant of both the noun and the verb.
Derivatives
prophesier
- But to give me the edge I decided to enlist the help of a few psychics and prophesiers.
- Granted, there's not much a necromancer, a prophesier, and an excellent warrior can do against a sorcerer, but we were up to try.
- It's not impossible that you'll run into a necromancer or a prophesier along the way, not anymore.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French profecier, from profecie (see prophecy).