Word of the Day

: February 2, 2020

prognosticate

verb prahg-NAHSS-tuh-kayt

What It Means

1 : to foretell from signs and symptoms : predict

2 : to give an indication of in advance : foreshadow

prognosticate in Context

The university's political science professor has successfully prognosticated the outcomes of the last 8 presidential elections.

"What is it about pundits that they are so often wrong, including in the United States, but they get to keep prognosticating anyway?" — Cal Thomas, The Baltimore Sun, 19 Dec. 2019

Did You Know?

Prognosticate, which comes from the Greek prognōstikos ("foretelling"), first appears in English during the 15th century. Since that time, prognosticate has been connected with things that give omens or warnings of events to come and with people who can prophesy or predict the future by such signs. William Shakespeare used the "prophesy" sense of prognosticate in the sonnet that begins "Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck." "Of thee this I prognosticate," the Bard penned, "Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date."