# prompting

/ˈpɹɑmptɪŋ/ (US) · /pɹˈɒmptɪŋ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/prompting
Updated: 2026-08-08

## Senses

### 1. encouragement or reminder

noun · CEFR B2

the act of saying something to help someone remember or to encourage them to act.

For teachers: the action of persuading, encouraging, or reminding an individual to perform a specific action or speech.

- With a little prompting from his wife, he finally told the story.
- The witness required constant prompting from the lawyer to recall the specific sequence of events that occurred on the night of the accident.

### 2. AI instructions

noun · CEFR B2 · Technical

the act of typing instructions into an AI to get a specific result.

For teachers: the technical process of inputting specific textual or multimodal instructions into an artificial intelligence system to elicit a desired output.

- Effective prompting is the key to getting high-quality images from the AI.
- The researcher spent hours refining his prompting techniques to ensure the large language model produced unbiased and factually accurate summaries.

## Examples

- The actor needed a little prompting to remember his next line.
- Without any prompting from his parents, the young boy began cleaning up his toys after the party.
- The software provides automated prompting to guide users through the complex installation process, ensuring that no critical configuration steps are overlooked during the initial setup.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.