prescient
UK /ˈpɹɛsiənt/ · US /ˈpɹɛʃ(i)ənt/ adjective
Forms præscient praescient
- adjective Exhibiting or possessing prescience: having knowledge of, or seemingly able to correctly predict, events before they take place.
Synonyms
clairvoyant foreknowing foreseeing prescious prescientific prevoyant
Antonyms
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin praesciēns (“foreknowing; foretelling, predicting”), present participle of) Latin praesciō (“to foreknow”), from prae- (prefix meaning ‘before; in front’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- (“before; in front”)) + sciō (“to know, understand; to have knowledge of”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect; to split”)). The word is cognate with Middle French prescient (modern French prescient (“prescient”)), Italian presciente (“prescient”). By surface analysis, pre- (“earlier in time, beforehand”) + scient (“knowing, aware”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Having knowledge of coming events; foreseeing; conscious beforehand. Pope.
Etymology [L. praesciens, -entis, p. pr. of praescire to foreknow; prae before + scire to know: cf. F. prescient. See Science.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “prescient”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details