English

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.

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

2. (transitive) To presage, betoken.

   The bluebells may prognosticate an early spring this year.

Quotations

• 1598 — William Shakespeare, Sonnet xiv

  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, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, Chapter VII

  ...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.

Synonyms

• presage, prophesy, foretell

Translations

Related terms

• prognosis
• prognostication

Italian

Verb

prognosticate

1. second-person plural present indicative of prognosticare
2. second-person plural imperative of prognosticare
3. feminine plural of prognosticato