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to prophesy

to prophesy

28 7.4
To say what will happen in the future, often claiming it comes from a god
  • verb
  • /ˈprɒfɪsaɪ/
translation icon : profetizar
  • One can identify individuals who, 15 to 20 years ago, prophesied a number of current developments in the communist world.
  • prophesied revolution
  • prophesied death
  • prophesied a future

On the plains of Mangeta, the Shiril Knights, what I prophesied, came to pass.

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Examples

  • The Canadian media guru Marshall McLuhan once prophesied that communications technologies would turn the world into a global village.

    Academic text (1999)
  • His mother had prophesied disaster.

  • I would not prophesy so.

  • - He's a young man for whom I prophesy a brilliant future.

  • Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Already, as Sweet Medicine had prophesied, her people were becoming divided.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • The Roman mystics prophesied the coming of a great evil.

  • The exultant new pope prophesied an era of peace, days of prosperity, and years of comfort.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • It was prophesied that I must choose between kindness for my kin and hate for my enemies.

  • The old man of the village, Grandpa Celso, prophesied that year that the weather would be unpredictable.

Synonyms

to predict
vsto prophesy
812 3.0

To say what will happen in the future

adds a spiritual or inspired source to that prediction
to foresee
vsto prophesy
77 3.9

To know or expect something before it happens

frames that foresight as coming from a divine source
to forecast
vsto prophesy
54 2.5

To say what will probably happen using information, for example about weather or business

shifts from data-based estimation to revealed, spiritual telling
to foretell
vsto prophesy
41 7.0

To say what will happen in the future

focuses more on divine revelation than on signs or skill
to foreshadow
vsto prophesy
16 6.2

To give a small sign that something will happen in the future

is more about direct revelation by a spiritual source
to portend
vsto prophesy
  • Formal
13 8.4

To show that something, often bad, will probably happen

focuses instead on revealing future events from a divine source
to anticipate
vsto prophesy
7 5.8

To happen earlier and show what will come later

changes that early sign into an explicit spiritual message
to presage
vsto prophesy
  • Literature
5 8.8

To show that something bad will happen

turns that sign into an explicit spiritual disclosure
to tell fortunes
vsto prophesy
4 7.6

Say what will happen to someone by reading palms, cards, or tea leaves

is instead about revealing future truths as divinely inspired
to vaticinate
vsto prophesy
  • Archaic
9.9

To say what will happen in the future because someone has spiritual power

emphasizes divine inspiration rather than ordinary prediction
to foreshow
vsto prophesy
  • Archaic
9.9

Predict an event from a sign or dream

is the same idea but stresses prophetic divine source
to previse
vsto prophesy
  • Archaic
9.9

To know something before it happens

places that seeing within a divinely inspired context
to annunciate
vsto prophesy
  • Literature
9.9

To show that something will happen soon

changes that hint into a direct, divinely inspired revelation
to auspicate
vsto prophesy
  • Archaic
9.9

To say what will happen by reading signs

moves from omen reading to an inspired, revealed prediction
to forebode
vsto prophesy
8.4

To seem to show that something bad will happen

places the indication within a divinely inspired disclosure

How Certain

to prophesy
28 7.4
to foretell
41 7.0
to predict
812 3.0
to guess
1.0
to speculate
254 4.8

Surface Forms

prophesy infinitive
prophesying present participle
prophesies third person singular
prophesied past
prophesied past participle

Etymology

Prophesy comes from parts that mean 'before' (pro-) and 'to speak' (seen in the word prophet), so it meant 'to speak before' something happened. That is why to prophesy is to tell or predict the future, often as if the message comes from a god.