predict
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Synonym Usage
Predict, prophesy, foresee, forecast mean to know or tell (usually correctly) beforehand what will happen. To predict is usually to foretell with precision of calculation, knowledge, or shrewd inference from facts or experience: The astronomers can predict an eclipse; it may, however, be used without the implication of underlying knowledge or expertise: I predict she'll be a success at the party. Prophesy usually means to predict future events by the aid of divine or supernatural inspiration: Merlin prophesied the two knights would meet in conflict; this verb, too, may be used in a more general, less specific sense. I prophesy he'll be back in the old job. To foresee refers specifically not to the uttering of predictions but to the mental act of seeing ahead; there is often (but not always) a practical implication of preparing for what will happen: He was clever enough to foresee this shortage of materials. Forecast has much the same meaning as predict; it is used today particularly of the weather and other phenomena that cannot easily be accurately predicted: Rain and snow are forecast for tonight. Economists forecast a rise in family income.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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predictabilitynoun
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mispredictverb
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predictableadjective
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unpredictedadjective
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unpredictingadjective
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predictablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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predictsimple
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predictssimple
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have predictedperfect
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has predictedperfect
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am predictingprogressive
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are predictingprogressive
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is predictingprogressive
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have been predictingperfect progressive
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has been predictingperfect progressive
Past
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predictedsimple
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had predictedperfect
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was predictingprogressive
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were predictingprogressive
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had been predictingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of predict
First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin praedictus, past participle of praedīcere “to foretell,” equivalent to prae- “before, earlier” + dic-, variant stem of dīcere “to say” + -tus past participle suffix; see pre-, dictum
Explanation
To predict is to say what you think is going to happen in the future. If you predict that you'll win the poker championship, you're either really confident in your poker skills or you're cheating. The prefix pre means "before." Dict comes from the Latin dicere, which means "to say," yet you can use predict to refer to things that can't say anything at all. Darkening skies can predict a coming storm, for example, and a runny nose can predict a cold. You can predict something based on factual evidence, or on a crystal-ball reading, or just on plain intuition.
Vocabulary lists containing predict
The Language of Standardized Tests, List 1
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Academic Vocabulary: Core Tier 2 Words, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Economists predict the U.S. consumer-price index fell by 0.2% in June.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Still, schools that have long used essays to help gauge students’ interest now have other ways to predict whether they will attend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
They predict it will become common, part of a new normal.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
Researchers found that oak trees continue absorbing carbon dioxide well after their annual growth has ended, suggesting forests may store less carbon in wood than many climate models currently predict.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
Pope Benedict XVI was the first to predict the crisis in the global financial system…Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Goldman Sachs predicts that by 2030, the total fleet of commercial robotaxis in the U.S. will reach 62,800 cars in a nearly $19 billion market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
The IMF predicts U.S. inflation won’t return to, nor approach, the Federal Reserve’s goal of 2% until the end of 2027 — assuming an end to the Iran war.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
Kori Adelson, president of North Road Films — one of the financiers behind “Backrooms” — predicts this shift also will change how studios weigh “price point to risk.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Greater presidential control has upsides and downsides—in dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor predicts that the ruling will concentrate unprecedented and possibly dangerous levels of power in the president’s hands.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026
But what he hadn't done was quite important—he hadn't gotten Katherine III on paper, and one cannot take an equation that predicts eighteen out of nineteen Katherines to the Nobel Prize Committee.
From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green
Twelve economists surveyed by the Journal last week predicted the Bank of Canada would keep its main interest rate unchanged at 2.25%, where it has been since October of last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
One analyst who predicted it from first principles was Joachim Klement, a managing director at U.K. investment bank Panmure Liberum.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Wave theory predicted that a bright point should appear in the center of the disc's shadow, where complete darkness would otherwise be expected.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 13, 2026
Experts thought 2025 was going to be a very bad year for heat-related deaths, but the numbers who died turned out to be much lower than expected - roughly half the 3,039 predicted.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Peace Prize, had predicted that his powerful explosives might very well put an end to all war.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
More of England and Wales will experience highs around the 30C mark, with some weather models predicting isolated peaks of 34 or 35C.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Later, physicist Yakov Zel'dovich expanded on this concept, predicting that waves interacting with an object rotating fast enough could also gain energy and become amplified.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
The U.S. dollar hit a 40-year high of 162.83 yen last Wednesday, with Nizard predicting it could reach 170 yen without intervention.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
More: Researchers cracked the code on predicting market bubbles.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
There was no predicting what they would be, and each manifested in its own time, in its own way.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
