prophesy
/prophesy/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb:
- To predict or foretell a future event, often as if through divine inspiration or supernatural means: To state what will happen in the future, typically with an implication of authoritative or inspired knowledge.
- To deliver a sermon or speak as a prophet: To speak or preach with religious or moral authority, often about future events or divine will.
Examples of Usage
- Verb:
- The ancient seer would prophesy the fate of kings.
- He claimed he could prophesy the outcome of the war.
- The book prophesies a period of great change.
- The minister stood to prophesy to the congregation about repentance.
Advanced Usage
"to prophesy doom/greatness": To predict a negative or positive future outcome.
- The cult leader prophesied doom for all non-believers.
- The oracle prophesied greatness for the newborn prince.
"as prophesied": Used to describe an event that happened as was predicted.
- The city fell, as prophesied in the ancient texts.
Variants and Related Words
- Prophet (n): A person who speaks by divine inspiration or who predicts the future.
- She was regarded as a prophet in her community.
- Prophecy (n): A prediction of the future; the faculty or practice of prophesying.
- His prophecy about the storm came true.
- Prophetic (adj): Accurately predicting or describing a future event.
- Her warnings proved to be prophetic.
Synonyms
- Predict: To say that an event will happen in the future (more general, often based on data).
- Foretell: To tell of a future event beforehand.
- Divine: To discover or declare through intuition or insight.
- Foresee: To be aware of beforehand; to predict.
Related Phrasal Verbs / Constructions
(Note: "Prophesy" is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. Its usage is typically straightforward.)
Related Idioms
- "A self-fulfilling prophecy": A prediction that causes itself to become true, directly or indirectly.
- His fear of failure became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- (Note: This idiom uses the noun "prophecy," a related form of "prophesy.")
Verb
- deliver a sermon
- The minister is not preaching this Sunday
- predict or reveal through, or as if through, divine inspiration