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Webster 1913 Edition


Predict

Pre-dict′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Predicted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Predicting
.]
[L.
praedictus
, p. p. of
praedicere
to predict;
prae
before +
dicere
to say, tell. See
Diction
, and cf.
Preach
.]
To tell or declare beforehand; to foretell; to prophesy; to presage;
as, to
predict
misfortune; to
predict
the return of a comet.
Syn. – To foretell; prophesy; prognosticate; presage; forebode; foreshow; bode.

Pre-dict′

,
Noun.
A prediction.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition


Predict

PREDICT'

,
Verb.
T.
[L. proedictus, proedico; proe, before, and dico, to tell.] To foretell; to tell beforehand something that is to happen. Moses predicted the dispersion of the Israelites. Christ predicted the destruction of Jerusalem.

Definition 2024


predict

predict

English

Alternative forms

Verb

predict (third-person singular simple present predicts, present participle predicting, simple past and past participle predicted)

  1. (transitive) To make a prediction: to forecast, foretell, or estimate a future event on the basis of knowledge and reasoning; to prophesy a future event on the basis of mystical knowledge or power.
    2000, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, xiii.
    Professor Trelawney kept predicting Harry’s death, which he found extremely annoying.
    2012, Jeremy Bernstein, "A Palette of Particles" in American Scientist, Vol. 100, No. 2, p. 146
    The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.
  2. (transitive, of theories, laws, etc.) To imply.
    • 1886, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 177. 338
      It is interesting to see how clearly theory predicts the difference between the ascending and descending curves of a dynamo.
  3. (intransitive) To make predictions.
    • 1652, J. Gaule, Πυς-μαντια the mag-astro-mancer, 196
      The devil can both predict and make predictors.
  4. (transitive, military, rare) To direct a ranged weapon against a target by means of a predictor.
    • 1943, L. Cheshire, Bomber Pilot, iii. 57
      They're predicting us now; looks like a barrage.

Synonyms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

predict (plural predicts)

  1. (obsolete) A prediction.

External links

  • predict” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Middle French

Verb

predict

  1. past participle of predire