prescience
PRESH-uhns · noun
Knowledge or awareness of events before they happen.
Memory connection
Picture “pre-sense”
A traveler pre-senses danger and steps aside one second before a heavy sign crashes onto the path.
The sound cue helps you reach the scene; the action in the scene carries you from the scene to the definition.
Use it accurately
Meaning in context
The author’s warning about data privacy now seems remarkably prescient.
Investors praised her prescience after the overlooked technology became essential.
Prescience is advance knowledge or unusually accurate foresight. The adjective is prescient; both are often used retrospectively when a prediction proves right.
Common patterns
- remarkable prescience
- show prescience
- seem prescient
Quick check
Can you retrieve the meaning?
When does a warning seem prescient?
Choose an answer, then explain it in your own words.