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prescient
[ presh-uhnt, āee-uhnt pree-shuhnt, āshee-uhnt ]
/ ĖprÉŹ Ént, āi Ént Ėpri ŹÉnt, āŹi Ént /
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adjective
having prescience, or knowledge of things or events before they exist or happen; having foresight: The prescient economist was one of the few to see the financial collapse coming.
QUIZ
THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?
Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.
Question 1 of 7
In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known asā¦
Origin of prescient
historical usage of prescient
Prescient āknowing things or events before they exist or happenā comes from Old and Middle French, ultimately from Latin praesciÄns (stem praescient- ), the present participle of the verb praescÄ«scere (in Late Latin praescÄ«re ) āto come to know beforehand.ā
Going from back to front, praescÄ«scere is a compound verb made up of the inceptive verb scÄ«scere āto get to knowā (an inceptive verb is one that shows the beginning of an action), formed from the simple verb scÄ«re āto knowā and the inceptive infix -sc-. Prae- is the tricky part: It is the Latin preposition and prefix prae, prae- āin front, ahead, before.ā
Even in very early Republican times, Latin country dialects simplified the diphthong ae to Ä (or long e ), as in rustic Latin hÄdus for urban (that is, Roman) haedus āgoat.ā By the time of the late Republic, in the first century b.c., and the first century a.d., in early Imperial times, the change from ae to Ä became general, first in unaccented vowels and afterward in accented vowels too. By the fourth century, ae and e (or short e ) were also confused, and written texts show baene for Classical Latin bene āwell,ā and braevis for Classical Latin brevis āshort.ā The Roman grammarian Servius, in a note on the Aeneid, feels it necessary to explain that miserae is the adjective, not the adverb miserÄ.
The confusion of ae and e persisted throughout ancient, medieval, and modern times. Even today British English prefers the spelling ae, and Americans the spelling e (especially in scientific and medical terms derived via Latin from Greek), as in anaemia and anemia, haemophilia and hemophilia, leukaemia and leukemia, paediatrics and pediatrics.
Going from back to front, praescÄ«scere is a compound verb made up of the inceptive verb scÄ«scere āto get to knowā (an inceptive verb is one that shows the beginning of an action), formed from the simple verb scÄ«re āto knowā and the inceptive infix -sc-. Prae- is the tricky part: It is the Latin preposition and prefix prae, prae- āin front, ahead, before.ā
Even in very early Republican times, Latin country dialects simplified the diphthong ae to Ä (or long e ), as in rustic Latin hÄdus for urban (that is, Roman) haedus āgoat.ā By the time of the late Republic, in the first century b.c., and the first century a.d., in early Imperial times, the change from ae to Ä became general, first in unaccented vowels and afterward in accented vowels too. By the fourth century, ae and e (or short e ) were also confused, and written texts show baene for Classical Latin bene āwell,ā and braevis for Classical Latin brevis āshort.ā The Roman grammarian Servius, in a note on the Aeneid, feels it necessary to explain that miserae is the adjective, not the adverb miserÄ.
The confusion of ae and e persisted throughout ancient, medieval, and modern times. Even today British English prefers the spelling ae, and Americans the spelling e (especially in scientific and medical terms derived via Latin from Greek), as in anaemia and anemia, haemophilia and hemophilia, leukaemia and leukemia, paediatrics and pediatrics.
OTHER WORDS FROM prescient
Words nearby prescient
presbytery, preschool, preschooler, preschooling, prescience, prescient, prescientific, prescind, prescore, Prescott, prescreen
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Ā© Random House, Inc. 2023