prospect
n. C / Un. the possibility or chance that something will happen in the future. You use this when you are looking forward to an event or thinking about what might occur.
n. the possibility or likelihood of some future event occurring. Often used with 'of' followed by a gerund or a noun phrase to indicate the specific nature of the anticipated event.
The prospect of a new job is very exciting.
The team was motivated by the prospect of winning the championship for the first time in a decade.
Economists remain cautious about the prospect of a full recovery, citing persistent inflation and supply chain disruptions as significant barriers to growth.
From Middle English prospecte, from Latin prōspectus (“view, sight, prospect; panorama”), from prōspiciō (“to look forward”) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns), from pro (“before, forward”) + speciō, spiciō (“to look, to see”). By surface analysis, pro- + -spect. Doublet of prospectus. The verb is from the noun.
Learned borrowing from Latin prōspectō.
When used to mean a potential customer or candidate, it is countable. In the sense of 'possibility', it is often uncountable or used in the singular with 'the'.
the prospect to winthe prospect of winningThe noun prospect is followed by the preposition 'of' and a gerund, not an infinitive.