prognosis

noun

prog·​no·​sis präg-ˈnō-səs How to pronounce prognosis (audio)
plural prognoses präg-ˈnō-ˌsēz How to pronounce prognosis (audio)
1
: the prospect of recovery as anticipated from the usual course of disease or peculiarities of the case
2

Did you know?

Prognosis Is Not Just a Medical Term

With its prefix pro-, meaning "before", prognosis means basically "knowledge beforehand" of how a situation is likely to turn out. Prognosis was originally a strictly medical term, but it soon broadened to include predictions made by experts of all kinds. Thus, for example, economists are constantly offering prognoses (notice the irregular plural form) about where the economy is going, and climate scientists regularly prognosticate about how quickly the earth's atmosphere is warming.

Examples of prognosis in a Sentence

Right now, doctors say his prognosis is good. The president had a hopeful prognosis about the company's future.
Recent Examples on the Web The research was published in Nature Genetics this week, and its creators are hopeful this tool could be used to offer doctors a better prognosis for their patients by being able to predict how aggressive their tumor cells might be as well as help identify new targets for future cancer treatments. Alex Knapp, Forbes, 27 Sep. 2024 On September 10, the country singer — who was diagnosed with colon cancer last year — posted a health update on Instagram, sharing that the disease has spread to his lungs and his prognosis isn’t great. Vanessa Etienne, Peoplemag, 11 Sep. 2024 Max came home from Children’s Hospital of Orange County on Saturday after responding favorably to treatments for Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves, and his prognosis for a full recovery appears good. Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2024 And based on the news coming out of Europe, the baby’s prognosis did not look good. Katie Hafner, Scientific American, 3 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for prognosis 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prognosis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Late Latin, from Greek prognōsis, literally, foreknowledge, from progignōskein to know before, from pro- + gignōskein to know — more at know

First Known Use

1655, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of prognosis was in 1655

Dictionary Entries Near prognosis

Cite this Entry

“Prognosis.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prognosis. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

prognosis

noun
prog·​no·​sis präg-ˈnō-səs How to pronounce prognosis (audio)
plural prognoses -ˈnō-ˌsēz How to pronounce prognosis (audio)
1
: the prospect of recovery of an individual who has a disease based on the usual course of the disease and the characteristics of the individual who is sick
2

Medical Definition

prognosis

noun
prog·​no·​sis präg-ˈnō-səs How to pronounce prognosis (audio)
plural prognoses -ˌsēz How to pronounce prognosis (audio)
1
: the act or art of foretelling the course of a disease
2
: the prospect of survival and recovery from a disease as anticipated from the usual course of that disease or indicated by special features of the case
the prognosis is poor because of the accompanying cardiovascular diseaseP. A. Mead et al.

More from Merriam-Webster on prognosis

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