prophetess

[prof-i-tis]

noun

1. a woman who speaks for God or a deity, or by divine inspiration.

2. a woman who foretells future events.

3. a woman who is aspokesperson of some doctrine, cause, or movement.

4. the wife or female companion of a prophet.

Gender Note

See -ess.

Word History and Origins

Origin of prophetess¹

1250–1300; Middle English prophetesse < Old French < Late Latin prophētissa. See prophet, -ess

Example Sentences

The wife, whom the Assemblies described as the prophetess, was later released following an unspecified medical episode, police said.

From Los Angeles Times

Positioning Robin as an unheeded prophetess and an eventual participant in Ethan’s undoing is a smart way to explore the sexism of the media world at the time.

From New York Times

Hannah ‘felt in her bones’ that it was going to be an unusually fine day, and she proved herself a true prophetess, for everybody and everything seemed bound to produce a grand success.

From Literature

To him, only the heroic male nude possessed the physical monumentality necessary to express the awesome power of figures such as this mythical prophetess.

From Literature

They had heard of her strange fame as a prophetess whom no one ever believed and yet whose prophecies were always proved true by the event.

From Literature