prescience

noun pre·science \ ˈpre-sh(ē-)ən(t)s , ˈprē- , -s(ē-)ən(t)s \

|Updated on: 8 Jul 2018

Examples: prescience in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of prescience

: foreknowledge of events:

a : divine omniscience

b : human anticipation of the course of events : foresight

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prescient

play \ˈpre-sh(ē-)ənt, ˈprē-, -s(ē-)ənt\ adjective

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presciently

adverb

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Examples of prescience in a Sentence

He predicted their response with amazing prescience.
Her prescience as an investor is impressive.

Recent Examples of prescience from the Web

At a certain point, Sharp Objects is a victim of its own prescience.

— Vogue, "Is Sharp Objects the Next Big Little Lies?," 3 July 2018
As anyone who has occasionally rewatched the series on Hulu can attest, things both continue to hold up and gradually gain that Simpsons-like prescience.

— nathan mattise, Ars Technica, "A reunion with Futurama, because only one show used climactic math theorems," 10 June 2018
That’s one of several recent pieces of criticism pointing to the prescience of Mr. Cuarón’s film, set in a world where infertility has led to widespread terrorist attacks, a refugee crisis and a Britain closed to immigrants.

— gabe cohn, New York Times, "What’s on TV Monday: ‘No Man’s Land’ and ‘God’s Own Country’," 7 May 2018
In a quarter-century at Invesco, Woodford gained a reputation for prescience by correctly calling major swings in technology, tobacco and other stocks.

— Bloomberg.com, "Oracle of Oxford Sees Red as Stock-Picking Powers Misfire," 27 Apr. 2018
And maybe, too, for its perhaps-accidental prescience. The thing is, there are no real scandals on Scandal; the word implies a public reaction of disgust and disapprobation.

— daniel d'addario, Time, "Scandal Helped Define the Obama Era. And Maybe Predicted Trump's," 19 Apr. 2018
The divides between older and younger generations of radicals have always been wide, but Wolitzer's prescience about the coming rift between gender activists in the age of #MeToo feels particularly wise.

— maris kreizman, latimes.com, "Meg Wolitzer's 'The Female Persuasion' leads the charge toward a better, feminist world," 29 Mar. 2018
With the benefit of Carson’s science and prescience, carbon dioxide might not have slipped through the regulatory shield that spared the living but left the future unprotected.

— sheelah kolhatkar, The New Yorker, "The Mail," 2 Apr. 2018
His prescience was remarkable, identifying some of Europe’s greatest wine estates at a time when few Americans were drinking wine at all.

— esther mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, "Remembering Robert Haas, one of the most influential figures in American wine," 21 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'prescience.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

If you know the origin of "science," you already know half the story of "prescience." "Science" comes from the Latin verb scire, which means "to know" and which is the source of many English words ("conscience," "conscious," and "omniscience," just to name a few). "Prescience" comes from the Latin verb praescire, which means "to know beforehand." "Praescire" joins the verb "scire" with the prefix prae-, a predecessor of "pre-." A lesser-known "scire"-derived word is "nescience." Nescience means "ignorance" and comes from "scire" plus "ne-," which means "not" in Latin.

Origin and Etymology of prescience

Middle English, from Late Latin praescientia, from Latin praescient-, praesciens, present participle of praescire to know beforehand, from prae- + scire to know — more at science

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First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined above

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