prospect

From Latin prospectus, past participle of prospicere (“to look forward”), from pro (“before, forward”) + specere, spicere (“to look, to see”).

• (noun)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒspɛkt/
  • (General American) enPR: präsʹpĕkt, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑspɛkt/
• (verb)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: prə-spĕktʹ, IPA^(key): /pɹəˈspɛkt/
  • (General American) enPR: präsʹpĕkt, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑspɛkt/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɛkt
• Hyphenation: pros‧pect

prospect (plural prospects)

1. The region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     , lines 543–552:

     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.

2. A picturesque or panoramic view; a landscape; hence, a sketch of a landscape.
   • 1649 June 20, John Evelyn, William Bray, editor, John Evelyn's Diary, volume 1, London: Henry Colburn, published 1850, page 251:

     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.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume III, chapter 6:

     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 ...

3. A position affording a fine view; a lookout.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     , lines 77–79:

     Him God beholding from his proſpect high, / Wherein paſt, preſent, future he beholds, / Thus to his onely Son forſeeing ſpake.

4. Relative position of the front of a building or other structure; face; relative aspect.
   • Bible, Ezekiel xl. 44

     Their prospect was toward the south.

5. The act of looking forward; foresight; anticipation.
   • John Locke

     a very ill prospect of a future state

   • Tillotson

     Is he a prudent man as to his temporal estate, that lays designs only for a day, without any prospect to, or provision for, the remaining part of life?

6. The potential things that may come to pass, often favorable.
   • 1788, James Hutton, Theory of the earth, page 166:

     The result, therefore, of this physical inquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning,— no prospect of an end.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:

     We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.

   • 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC:

     And a further boost to England's qualification prospects came after the final whistle when Wales recorded a 2-1 home win over group rivals Montenegro, who Capello's men face in their final qualifier.

   • 2013 June 7, Joseph Stiglitz, “Globalisation is about taxes too”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 19:

     It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. […] It is the starving of the public sector which has been pivotal in America no longer being the land of opportunity – with a child's life prospects more dependent on the income and education of its parents than in other advanced countries.

7. A hope; a hopeful.
   • 2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph:

     The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott.

8. (sports) Any player whose rights are owned by a top-level professional team, but who has yet to play a game for said team.
9. (music) The façade of an organ.

prospect (third-person singular simple present prospects, present participle prospecting, simple past and past participle prospected)

1. (intransitive) To search, as for gold.
2. (geology, mining) To determine which minerals or metals are present in a location.

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