Prospective

/pɹəˈspɛktɪv/ · adjective

Meaning

Likely or expected to happen or become..

Definitions by Sense

1. Likely or expected to happen or become.
2. Anticipated in the near or far future.
3. Of or relating to a prospect; furnishing a prospect.
4. Looking forward in time; acting with foresight.
5. (medicine, of research) Being a study that starts with the present situation and follows participants into the future
6. (grammar) Indicating grammatically an activity about to begin.
7. (obsolete) The scene before or around, in time or in space; view; prospect.
8. (obsolete) A perspective glass.

Example Sentences

Prospective students are those who have already applied to the university, but have yet to be admitted.

A short distance above I-ch’ang is the prospective site of a hydroelectric dam that has vast promise for the industrialization of central China.

And in times long and dark Proſpective Glaſs / Fore-ſaw what future dayes ſhould bring to paſs,

1668-1690, Josiah Child, A new discourse of trade The French king, and the king of Sweden are […] circumspect, industrious, and prospective, too, in this affair.

What some other languages convey with prospective aspect, English conveys with expressions like going to drive the car home.

the whole Scene of affairs was changed from Spain to France there now lay the prospective

[T]hey [two pavillions] were trimmed on the inside with rich armour and military furniture, hanged up as upon the walls; and behind the tents there were represented, in prospective, the tops of divers other tents, as if it had been a camp.

Would you like to show the prospective around?

Synonyms for prospective

Antonyms for prospective

Related Words

Word Forms

• prospectives

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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