prognosticate

English

WOTD – 22 April 2006

Etymology

From Medieval Latin prognosticare; see prognostic for more.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /pɹɒɡˈnɒstɪkeɪt/

Verb

prognosticate (third-person singular simple present prognosticates, present participle prognosticating, simple past and past participle prognosticated)

1. (transitive) To predict or forecast, especially through the application of skill.

   Synonyms: foretell, prophesy

   Examining the tea-leaves, she prognosticated dark days ahead.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 14”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
     And constant stars in them I read such art
     As 'Truth and beauty shall together thrive,
     If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert';
     Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
     'Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.'

   • 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:

     ...to-morrow I intend lengthening the night till afternoon. I prognosticate for myself an obstinate cold, at least.

   • 1915 – Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out ch. 2

     All old people and many sick people were drawn, were it only for a foot or two, into the open air, and prognosticated pleasant things about the course of the world.

2. (transitive) To presage, betoken.

   Synonyms: foretoken, foreshadow, portend

   The bluebells may prognosticate an early spring this year.

Related terms

• prognosis
• prognostic
• prognostication
• prognostize

Translations

predict, foretell

Arabic: أَنْذَرَ (ʔanḏara) Bulgarian: предсказвам (bg) (predskazvam), прогнозирам (prognoziram) Danish: forudsige, spå (da) Faroese: spáa Finnish: ennustaa (fi) French: pronostiquer (fr) German: prognostizieren (de) Hungarian: prognosztizál (hu) Icelandic: spá (is) Ido: prognozar (io) Latin: prognosticare, ōminor Maori: waitohu Norwegian: Bokmål: forutsi (no), spå Nynorsk: spå Portuguese: prognosticar (pt) Russian: предска́зывать (ru) (predskázyvatʹ), прогнозировать (ru) (prognozirovatʹ) Spanish: pronosticar (es) Swedish: förutsäga (sv), spå (sv)

betoken

Bulgarian: вещая (bg) (veštaja), предвещавам (bg) (predveštavam) Finnish: enteillä (fi) French: présager (fr) Russian: предвеща́ть (ru) (predveščátʹ) Swedish: förebåda (sv)

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

prognosticate

1. inflection of prognosticare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

prognosticate f pl

1. feminine plural of prognosticato