Prophesy
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Obsolete spelling of prophecy; now a misspelling. alt-of, countable, obsolete, uncountable
"I take it néedles, and booteles to make ouer déepe, or ſcrupulous enquiry into euery moſt auncient, and obſolete antiquitie: I preſuppoſe it ſufficient to peruſe, and examine the moſt famous, and moſt autentique ſuppoſed propheſies, that haue curranteſt paſſage, and repaſſage in moſt mouthes, and bookes: conſidering how eaſily euerie indifferent man may proportionably make eſtimation of the woorſe, by the better, and ratably value the one by the other."
- 1 To speak or write with divine inspiration; to act as prophet.
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:"
- 2 deliver a sermon wordnet
- 3 To predict, to foretell (with or without divine inspiration).
"Then I perceive that will be verified Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy ‘If once he come to be a cardinal, He’ll make his cap co-equal with the crown.’"
- 4 predict or reveal through, or as if through, divine inspiration wordnet
- 5 To foreshow; to herald; to prefigure.
"Methought thy very gait did prophesy A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee."
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- 6 To speak out on the Bible as an expression of holy inspiration; to preach. intransitive
"1646, Jeremy Taylor, Of the Liberty of Prophesying, Section 4, in Treatises of 1. The liberty of prophesying, 2. Prayer ex tempore, 3. Episcopacie: together with a sermon, London: R. Royston, 1648, p. 73, […] if we consider that we have no certain wayes of determining places of difficulty and Question, infallibly and certainly […] we shall see a very great necessity in allowing a liberty in Prophesying without prescribing authoritatively to other mens consciences, and becomming Lords and Masters of their Faith."
Example
More examples"I can not prophesy what will be the outcome of the efforts which the Filipino women are now making to obtain suffrage; but I know that these efforts must be to them, and are to us, a source of pride and glory, because they show that there is no part of our people which has remained indifferent to the great movements of the century. There are persons who scoff at them and many shrug their shoulders; but this must not discourage our women, because neither scoffing nor shrugging the shoulders are very weighty arguments."
Etymology
From Middle English prophecien; partly from prophecie, and partly from Middle French prophecier, prophesier, from prophecie (“prophecy”). Doublet of prophecy.
From Middle English prophecie.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.