prophecy
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
a prediction about the future, especially one that people believe comes from a god.
a prediction of future events, typically one made by a prophet or under divine inspiration.
Simple“The old woman made a prophecy that the kingdom would one day fall.”
In context“The oracle delivered a cryptic prophecy that the king misinterpreted, leading his army into a disastrous and unnecessary conflict.”
PitfallThe ancient king heard a dark prophesy. The ancient king heard a dark prophecy.In modern English, 'prophecy' is the noun (the thing) and 'prophesy' is the verb (the action).
Synonyms - 02 C1 Advanced
the ability or act of telling what will happen in the future.
the faculty, function, or practice of a prophet; the act of divining the future.
Simple“He was believed to have the gift of prophecy from a young age.”
In context“The monk was revered for his gift of prophecy, though he rarely spoke of the visions that haunted his sleep.”
Synonyms
“The findings point to a psychological mechanism known as a "self-fulfilling prophecy." The results have recently been published in the journals Psychology and Aging and Journal of Gerontology: Series B Psychology and Social Sciences.”
From Middle English prophecie, from Old French prophetie, from Latin prophētīa, from Ancient Greek προφητεία (prophēteía, “prophecy”), from προφήτης (prophḗtēs, “speaker of a god”), from πρό (pró, “before”) + φημί (phēmí, “I tell”). Displaced native Old English wītgung. Doublet of prophesy.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.