prognosticator
Americannoun
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a person who forecasts or predicts something future from present indications or signs; prophet.
Maybe this faltering team can somehow defy the prognosticators and experts and make the playoffs.
-
something that is a sign or indicator of a coming event.
The woolly bear caterpillars and other prognosticators of winter suggest we will have a more normal one this year.
Etymology
Origin of prognosticator
First recorded in 1550–60; prognosticat(e) ( def. ) + -or 2 ( def. )
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.
Even the gloomiest prognosticator thinks a formal default is highly unlikely, and the idea that it might happen within six years is in the very outside realm of risk.
From MarketWatch • May 15, 2026
That isn't to say the prognosticator is fully in the bag for Harris.
From Salon • Nov. 21, 2024
Not to cast a shadow over your Groundhog Day fun, but flipping a coin is a better prognosticator of winter weather than the 39 percent success rate of Punxsutawney Phil and his coterie.
From Slate • Feb. 2, 2024
Had we known back on July 1 the course that events would take, the Hotline would have declared Kliavkoff’s first six months a success while quoting famed Caddyshack prognosticator Carl Spackler:
From Seattle Times • Jan. 14, 2022
There is scarcely an occurrence in nature which, happening at a certain time, is not looked upon by some persons as a prognosticator either of good or evil.
From Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions — Volume 3 by Mackay, Charles
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.
