prescience

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English prescience, from Old French prescience, from Latin praescientia.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɛsɪ.əns/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɛʃəns/, /ˈpɹɛsi.əns/, /ˈpɹɛʃiəns/, (sometimes) /ˈpɹi-/
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛsɪəns

Noun

prescience (usually uncountable, plural presciences)

  1. Knowledge of events before they take place. [from 14th c.]
    2. (especially) Such knowledge that is supernatural or paranormal in nature, including the prediction of things that nobody could have known by the ordinary senses.
      Synonyms: precognition, foresight (precognition sense), foreknowledge, clairvoyance, premonition, divination, prophecy, psychicness
      Coordinate term: foretelling
      • 1754, Jonathan Edwards, An Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions Respecting that Freedom of the Will which is supposed to be Essential to Moral Agency:
        God's certain prescience of the volitions of moral agents
      • 1815, Lydia Sigourney, Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse, On a Sleeping Infant, page 198:
        O thou, who thus the eye hast veil'd,
        The book of fate so slowly given,
        I thank thee, that thou hast conceal'd
        From man the prescience of heaven.
    4. (sometimes) Such knowledge that comes from wise and thorough forethought (for example, careful planning).
      Synonym: foresight (wisdom sense)
      Near-synonym: forethought
      • 2020 September 23, Paul Bigland, “The tragic tale of the Tay Bridge disaster”, in Rail, page 83:
        With prescience, the Barlows designed them to withstand a third more weight than they would be expected to bear in normal conditions - future proofing the bridge for the weight of trains we see using it today.

Translations

French

Etymology

    Learned borrowing from Latin praescientia.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /pʁɛ.sjɑ̃s/ ~ /pʁe.sjɑ̃s/

    Noun

    prescience f (plural presciences)

    1. prescience

    Further reading

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