prescience

[presh-uhns, -ee-uhns, pree-shuhns, -shee-uhns]

noun

1. knowledge of things before they exist or happen; foreknowledge; foresight.

prescience

/ ˈprɛsɪəns /

noun

1. knowledge of events before they take place; foreknowledge

Other Word Forms

• prescient adjective
• presciently adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of prescience¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Late Latin praescientia “foreknowledge”; equivalent to pre- + science

Word History and Origins

Origin of prescience¹

C14: from Latin praescīre to foreknow, from prae before + scīre to know

Example Sentences

What does surprise is his prescience about still-relevant concerns, from a disappearing middle class to police brutality.

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Her presence on the pitch and her prescience off it - a willingness to embrace TikTok is widely credited with her huge popularity - has helped make Earps an unstoppable force.

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Maybe it’s inevitable that "Black Mirror," once upon a time a show of unnerving political and social prescience, would become not simply passé but past expiration.

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Setting aside any bruised pride, he said there are plenty of reasons to visit the region, beyond its former political prescience.

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Maybe Ben Franklin’s wry quip about a “Republic, if you can keep it,’ was more prescience than cynicism.

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Related Words

• foreknowledge 
• presage