noun
prescience
PRESH-uns/ˈpreʃns/
Knowledge of events before they happen.
The woman's prescience leads her to bring an umbrella before the storm arrives.
Etymology
Here scientia carries the broad meaning “knowledge.” Adding “before” makes that knowledge advance knowledge: awareness of events before they take place.
In context
In the book of Dune, Paul exhibits prescience even before he is exposed to spice. Dreaming of Chani, the fremen girl he would eventually meet on Arrakis
More examples
- She showed remarkable prescience in warning us about the shortage.
- The novel's prescience is striking: it describes inventions that appeared decades later.
- What looked like prescience was really a lucky guess.
Forms
prescient adjective — Knowing about events before they happen.
Similar words
- foreknowledge
- States advance knowledge directly, without suggesting exceptional predictive insight.
- foresight
- Emphasizes anticipating future needs and planning, rather than knowing events.