prognostication
AmericanEtymology
Origin of prognostication
1350–1400; Middle English pronosticacion < Medieval Latin prognōsticātiōn- (stem of prognōsticātiō ). See prognosticate, -ion
Explanation
A prognostication is a prediction about the future. If you make gloomy prognostications about how much traffic there will be on the way home, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find the drive fast and easy. Use the noun prognostication when someone's making a forecast or a guess about upcoming events. Your prognostication about whether or not it will rain tomorrow might lead to your family's picnic being cancelled. Another way to use the word is to mean a sign or portent: "I hope that black cat isn't a prognostication of bad luck!" The Latin root, prognostica, means "sign to forecast weather," and it comes from the Greek prognostikos, "foreknowing."
Vocabulary lists containing prognostication
The Alchemist
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Unbroken
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The Boys in the Boat
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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.
We chose a six-month expiration to provide time for the end-of-year prognostication to be overshadowed by the realities of 2026—whatever that might be.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
I could be didactic with you — sure, quit your job, marry your partner, move to the burbs — and that may feel like a prognostication of sorts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2024
When he’s not making his annual prognostication, Phil lives in a customized space beside the Punxsutawney Memorial Library, with a window where library patrons can check out his burrow.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
From Cyrus Scofield to Hal Lindsey to Tim LaHaye, we live in the wake of high-stakes prognostication allegedly grounded in John’s dream visions.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 21, 2023
I slowly laid out sweets upon our little table, disheartened by so glum a prognostication.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
