prompt
Americanadjective
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done, performed, delivered, etc., at once or without delay.
I emailed them asking about my package and they gave a prompt reply.
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ready in action; quick to act as occasion demands.
They were trained to be prompt and competent for any emergency.
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quick or alert.
You're too prompt to take offense.
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She's never prompt in arriving for work, yet she's always the first to leave at the end of the day.
verb (used with object)
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prompts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
prompted,
past participle, past
-
prompting
present participle
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to move or induce to action.
What prompted you to say that?
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to occasion or incite; inspire.
What prompted his resignation?
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to assist (a person speaking) by suggesting something to be said.
It's obvious that this witness has been prompted into giving false testimony.
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Theater. to supply (an actor, singer, etc.) from offstage with a missed cue or forgotten line.
I focused on prompting our Cyrano, who had become strangely disoriented.
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Computers. (of a computer system) to send a message or symbol to (a user) requesting information or instructions, usually by displaying the message or symbol on a screen.
Once the home page has loaded, the computer will prompt you to log in to your account.
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Computers, Digital Technology. to request particular output from (a machine learning algorithm) by means of instructions, questions, examples, context, or other input.
verb (used without object)
-
prompts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
prompted,
past participle, past
-
prompting
present participle
noun
-
prompts
plural
-
the act of prompting.
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something serving to suggest or remind.
They send an email once a month, which is just the prompt I need to pay my bill on time.
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Commerce.
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a limit of time given for payment for merchandise purchased, the limit being stated on a note of reminder prompt note.
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the contract setting the time limit.
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Computers. a message or symbol from a computer system to a user, generally appearing on a display screen, requesting more information or indicating that the system is ready for user instructions.
When the prompt appears, provide your access code.
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Computers, Digital Technology. a sequence of inputs, often containing instructions, questions, examples, or context, used to request particular output from a machine learning algorithm.
idioms
adjective
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performed or executed without delay
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quick or ready to act or respond
adverb
verb
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(tr) to urge (someone to do something)
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to remind (an actor, singer, etc) of lines forgotten during a performance
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(tr) to refresh the memory of
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(tr) to give rise to by suggestion
his affairs will prompt discussion
noun
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commerce
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the time limit allowed for payment of the debt incurred by purchasing goods or services on credit
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the contract specifying this time limit
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Also called: prompt note. a memorandum sent to a purchaser to remind him of the time limit and the sum due
-
-
the act of prompting
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anything that serves to remind
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an aid to the operator of a computer in the form of a question or statement that appears on the screen showing that the equipment is ready to proceed and indicating the options available
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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promptsimple
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promptssimple
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have promptedperfect
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has promptedperfect
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am promptingprogressive
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are promptingprogressive
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is promptingprogressive
-
have been promptingperfect progressive
-
has been promptingperfect progressive
Past
-
promptedsimple
-
had promptedperfect
-
was promptingprogressive
-
were promptingprogressive
-
had been promptingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of prompt
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English prompte “ready, eager” (adjective), prompten (verb), both ultimately from Latin promptus “manifest, at hand, ready, quick, prepared,” adjective use of past participle of prōmere “to bring forth, deliver, set forth,” from prō- pro- 1 + (e)mere “to buy, obtain, take”
Explanation
If you're prompt, you're on time. Go ahead and be prompt to class. Also, to prompt is to inspire or make happen. Getting in trouble for being late should prompt you to get a better alarm clock. The adjective prompt can mean "as scheduled," or simply "quick." When you prompt someone, you motivate them in some way: you might offer a reminder, assistance, or even inspiration to do something. For example, honking your car horn prompts your friend to get moving, and speaking up in defense of your classmate might prompt a bully to change his ways. If a director prompts an actor who's forgotten his lines, she reminds him what comes next.
Vocabulary lists containing prompt
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Essential English Vocabulary, List 1
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 20–25
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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:
The same numbers might prompt a middle-class or working-class family to put a home purchase on hold, for the foreseeable future.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
However, a smaller fiscal action could prompt the Fed to do more, including slashing interest rates and potentially restarting its purchases of longer-dated U.S. debt, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
Some people worry that too much regulation will just prompt students to party off campus, where the rules won’t apply.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
In other words, the language of a prompt influenced the cultural assumptions underlying its response.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
Menelaos knew him now, and so fell silent with uncertainty whether to let him speak and name his father in his own time, or to inquire, and prompt him.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
There are tools where you can ask, with the right prompts: “People who are passionate about F1, what are they talking about? What are the latest conversations on Reddit?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
These are some of the prompts an engineer arrested by federal authorities last week is accused of submitting to an artificial intelligence chatbot to program a recording device hidden in an OpenAI conference room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
The company added that, for teens who are seen to have used ChatGPT for three consecutive hours or more, their prompts included something related to learning in more than 80% of such cases.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
The new gene prompts the cells to produce CARs only when it reaches this intended location.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
Our relationship was nothing but command prompts and replies, like talking to a computer.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
It produced for one prompter a schematic of a jet engine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
To keep that rhythm, the prompter has to talk over the other actor’s lines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2026
Those accounts accused Harris of making use of the prompter to answer questions from the audience, asked in English and Spanish, causing Univision producers to set the record straight late Thursday night.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2024
I'd like to see how she performs more off the cuff and without an ability to read from the prompter.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2024
His eyes were still wet when the door opened, and the insidious prompter of the enterprise which had deprived him of his liberty entered the room.
From The Gipsy (Vols I & II) A Tale by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
The day Yastrzemski steps out, museum curators will mark him for promptest delivery.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Federal Reserve Board's first credit-easing step, in May 1953, "was the promptest response to an economic decline ever taken by a central bank in any country."
From Time Magazine Archive
Needed: "Additional and improved bombers, airborne alert, more missiles of existing types, speeded production of Polaris submarines, the promptest possible dispersal and hardening of bases, and a program for civil defense."
From Time Magazine Archive
“My clerk,” said Pidcock; and this is the promptest thing I can remember of the Major, always excepting his conduct when the firing began on the hill.
From Red Men and White by Frederic Remington
Consequently a tradition concerning messengers is current among the gentry; they hold that the promptest and surest post never can replace them.
From Iermola by Jo?zef Ignacy Kraszewski
In a separate statement, the ministry said the limited water depth in the artificial waterway also prompted authorities to decide to launch their third attempt.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
That prompted a lawsuit that reached the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
A massive cyclospora outbreak linked to shredded iceberg from Taylor Farms de Mexico prompted recalls extending from Taco Bell kitchens to supermarket produce aisles.
From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2026
A visit in the 1980s to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, she would later tell interviewers, prompted her to think about a way to “bring history alive” for children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
Upon arriving home he noted that his barnyard was full of seaweed, which then prompted a characteristically indiscreet observation: He had made “a good exchange...honors and virtues for manure.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Details leaked online Tuesday, a day before the planned release of the fix, prompting the rush to take sites offline.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
The unusual illumination even fooled gold miners into thinking morning had arrived, prompting them to prepare breakfast shortly after midnight.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 21, 2026
Panetta said an envelope containing the powder was delivered to his Santa Cruz district office and opened by a staff member, prompting the office to be evacuated, with staff later cleared by medical personnel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
Wardley survived the opening round but was overwhelmed by another sustained attack in the second, prompting his corner to throw in the towel.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
I made a progress round the room, with Charles at my side, prompting me with the names.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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