prophesy
Americanverb (used with object)
-
prophesies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
prophesied,
past participle, past
-
prophesying
present participle
-
to foretell or predict.
- Synonyms:
- prognosticate, augur
-
to indicate beforehand.
-
to declare or foretell by or as if by divine inspiration.
- Synonyms:
- divine
-
to utter in prophecy or as a prophet.
verb (used without object)
-
prophesies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
prophesied,
past participle, past
-
prophesying
present participle
-
to make predictions.
-
to make inspired declarations of what is to come.
-
to speak as a mediator between God and humankind or in God's stead.
-
Archaic. to teach religious subjects.
verb
-
to reveal or foretell (something, esp a future event) by or as if by divine inspiration
-
archaic (intr) to give instruction in religious subjects
Commonly Confused
See prophecy.
Synonym Usage
See predict.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
prophesysimple
-
prophesiessimple
-
have prophesiedperfect
-
has prophesiedperfect
-
am prophesyingprogressive
-
are prophesyingprogressive
-
is prophesyingprogressive
-
have been prophesyingperfect progressive
-
has been prophesyingperfect progressive
Past
-
prophesiedsimple
-
had prophesiedperfect
-
was prophesyingprogressive
-
were prophesyingprogressive
-
had been prophesyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of prophesy
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; verb use of variant of the noun prophecy (fully distinguished in form and meaning in the 18th century)
Explanation
The word prophesy can mean to predict or reveal something that will happen in the future. Many people use astrology to prophesy, or predict, their future regarding misfortune, wealth, love, and relationships. Used as a verb prophesy can mean to deliver a sermon or predict through divine inspiration. A religious leader may prophesy to followers about good, evil, and forgiveness. In ancient Greece, an oracle would prophesy the Greek's future regarding the gods, war, and harvest. Using a crystal ball, a fortuneteller will prophesy, or reveal, aspects of your future such as wealth, love, and death.
Vocabulary lists containing prophesy
Harriet Tubman
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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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:
In 1844, the Rev. Bush wrote "The Valley of the Vision, or The Dry Bones Revived," interpreting the biblical Book of Ezekiel to prophesy the return of the Jews to Palestine.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2024
The crowd, composed mostly of New York and L.A. rap cognoscenti who had invented or dominated the genre, jeered, nearly heckling Outkast offstage — but not before André reeled off a prophesy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2023
What did you think of that moment, and what that prophesy amounts to, 200 years down the line?
From New York Times ● Oct. 10, 2022
One of their three unreleased songs Love In The City could almost be a prophesy of what befell them.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2022
The priest proceeded to interpret my mother’s prophesy, but I was too anxious about her well-being to pay any attention to what he was saying.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
An apparent similarity between two unrelated events, a parchment-paper test, makes us partial to seemingly endless, overconfident prophesies of disaster.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2025
But he was quickly disabused of any hope that his prophesies of financial doom would sway opponents.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025
But the sun no longer shines on their quaint German town, and Ellen prophesies that something is wrong.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024
Tech industry hype and doomsday prophesies around A.I.-enhanced chatbots like ChatGPT sent many schools scrambling this year to block or limit the use of the tools in classrooms.
From New York Times ● Jun. 26, 2023
Tom and Eb were sullen and resentful for days that their prophesies of an easy victory should so early have taken on a hollow ring.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
Burry’s bets are still off from how low he has prophesied they will go.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
According to WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, Davis frequently had to stop and correct the behavior of Lewis, who at one point prophesied the end of the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2025
This, he prophesied, would lead to an unbreakable coalition that could fundamentally reshape the nation’s politics for the next half-century.
From Slate ● Nov. 25, 2024
Dubois, 27, becomes a top dog in the glamour division, but 'Dynamite' is not a flash in the pan and has long been prophesied for heavyweight stardom.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2024
He knew that the next child of the Big Three gods—Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades^—who turned sixteen was prophesied to either save or destroy Mount Olympus.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
Clients have drifted away from Song Oh-soon's fortune-telling village on the edge of Seoul, preferring online AI-powered divination to the centuries-old prophesying tradition still practised there.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
It is often called ritual theatre for its electrifying drama, featuring daring acts like fire-walking, diving into burning embers, chanting occult verses, and prophesying.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2024
Years before, she imagined her future death, as if prophesying:
From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2023
He noted the irony of his own circumstances, prophesying a city laid waste by remote work.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2023
He was the sort of man who would become a British Israelite nowadays, and spend the rest of his life prophesying the end of the world by measuring the passages in the Great Pyramid.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
