prospect
/ˈpɹɑspɛkt/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.13 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A picturesque or panoramic view; a landscape; hence, a sketch of a landscape.
noun
The act of looking forward; foresight; anticipation.
noun
The potential things that may come to pass, often favorable.
Example Sentences
- "As when a Scout[…]Obtains the brow of ſome high-climbing Hill, / Which to his eye diſcovers unaware / The goodly proſpect of ſome forein land / Firſt-ſeen, or ſome renownd Metropolis / With gliſtering Spires and Pinnacles adornd, / Which now the Riſing Sun guilds with his beams."
- "I went to Putney, and other places on the Thames, to take prospects in crayon, to carry into France, where I thought to have them engraved."
- "She felt all the honest pride and complacency which her alliance with the present and future proprietor could fairly warrant, as she viewed the respectable size and style of the building, its suitable, becoming, characteristic situation, low and sheltered—its ample gardens stretching down to meadows washed by a stream, of which the Abbey, with all the old neglect of prospect, had scarcely a sight ..."
- "The wide prospect up stream was grey and lowering, the long still-distant waterfront of Dundee, and the Fife shore were alike colourless, and there was ample evidence of rough weather not far ahead."
- "Him God beholding from his proſpect high, / Wherein paſt, preſent, future he beholds, / Thus to his onely Son forſeeing ſpake."
- "Their prospect was toward the south."
Etymology
From Middle English prospecte, from Latin prōspectus (“view, sight, prospect; panorama”), from prōspiciō (“to look forward”) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns), from pro (“before, forward”) + speciō, spiciō (“to look, to see”). By surface analysis, pro- + -spect. Doublet of prospectus and prospekt. The verb is from the noun.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *speḱ-, prospecte, prōspectus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɹɑspɛkt/
- British English: /ˈpɹɒspɛkt/