prognostication

/prɑgˈnɑstəˌkeɪʃən/

Other forms: prognostications

A prognostication is a prediction about the future. If you make gloomy prognostications about how much traffic there will be on the way home, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find the drive fast and easy.

Use the noun prognostication when someone's making a forecast or a guess about upcoming events. Your prognostication about whether or not it will rain tomorrow might lead to your family's picnic being cancelled. Another way to use the word is to mean a sign or portent: "I hope that black cat isn't a prognostication of bad luck!" The Latin root, prognostica, means "sign to forecast weather," and it comes from the Greek prognostikos, "foreknowing."

Definitions of prognostication

1. noun

   a sign of something about to happen
   synonyms: omen, portent, presage, prodigy, prognostic

   types:

   auspice

   a favorable omen

   foreboding

   an unfavorable omen

   death knell

   an omen of death or destruction

   type of:

   augury, foretoken, preindication, sign

   an event that is experienced as indicating important things to come
2. noun

   a statement made about the future
   synonyms: forecasting, foretelling, prediction

   types:

   extropy

   the prediction that human intelligence and technology will enable life to expand in an orderly way throughout the entire universe

   fortunetelling

   the practice of predicting people's futures (usually for payment)

   horoscope

   a prediction of someone's future based on the relative positions of the planets

   meteorology, weather forecasting

   predicting what the weather will be

   forecast, prognosis

   a prediction about how something (as the weather) will develop

   divination, prophecy

   a prediction uttered under divine inspiration

   oracle

   a prophecy (usually obscure or allegorical) revealed by a priest or priestess; believed to be infallible

   financial forecast

   a forecast of the expected financial position and the results of operations and cash flows based on expected conditions

   weather forecast, weather outlook

   a forecast of the weather

   type of:

   statement

   a message that is stated or declared; a communication (oral or written) setting forth particulars or facts etc
3. noun

   knowledge of the future (usually said to be obtained from a divine source)
   synonyms: prophecy, vaticination

   types:

   crystal gazing

   staring into a crystal ball to arouse visions of future or distant events

   divination, foretelling, fortune telling, soothsaying

   the art or gift of prophecy (or the pretense of prophecy) by supernatural means

   arithmancy

   divination by means of numbers

   dowse, dowsing, rhabdomancy

   searching for underground water or minerals by using a dowsing rod

   geomancy

   divination by means of signs connected with the earth (as points taken at random or the arrangement of particles thrown down at random or from the configuration of a region and its relation to another)

   hydromancy

   divination by water (as by patterns seen in the ebb and flow of the tides)

   lithomancy

   divination by means of stones or stone talismans

   necromancy

   conjuring up the dead, especially for prophesying

   oneiromancy

   divination through the interpretation of dreams

   onomancy

   divination by the letters of a name

   chiromancy, palm reading, palmistry

   telling fortunes by lines on the palm of the hand

   pyromancy

   divination by fire or flames

   type of:

   anticipation, prediction, prevision

   the act of predicting (as by reasoning about the future)