Prophecy
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A prediction, especially one made by a prophet or under divine inspiration. countable, uncountable
"French writer Nostradamus made a prophecy in his book."
- 2 knowledge of the future (usually said to be obtained from a divine source) wordnet
- 3 The public interpretation of Scripture. countable, uncountable
- 4 a prediction uttered under divine inspiration wordnet
- 1 Alternative form of prophesy. alt-of, alternative, dated
"[…] think of the kind pains you took to reason and persuade me out of my fears, convince me that I should like it after a little while, and feel how right you proved to be, I am inclined to hope you may always prophecy as well."
Example
More examples"Experience is the only prophecy of wise men."
Etymology
From Middle English prophecie, from Old French prophetie, from Latin prophētīa, from Ancient Greek προφητεία (prophēteía, “prophecy”), from προφήτης (prophḗtēs, “speaker of a god”), from πρό (pró, “before”) + φημί (phēmí, “I tell”). Displaced native Old English wītgung. Doublet of prophesy.
Related phrases
More for "prophecy"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.