pronoia
Syllables: pro·no·ia/pɹəʊˈnɔɪə/US/pɹoʊˈnɔɪə/
pronoia noun: divine providence, foreknowledge, foresight.
Noun (1)
pronoia (countable and uncountable, plural pronoiae or pronoiai or pronoias)
- Divine providence, foreknowledge, foresight.
- Now Providence (which the Greekes call Pronoia) is an intellectuall knowledge, both fore-ſeeing, caring for, and ordering all things, and doth not onely behold all paſt, all present, and all to come, but is the cauſe of their ſo being, which Preſcience (ſimply taken) is not: and therefore...1614, Walter Raleigh, “Of the Creation, and Preservation of the World”, in The Historie of the World. In Five Bookes. […], London: Printed for Walter Bvrre, →OCLC, § XIII (Of Providence), page 15
- [page 320] 'And make no provision for the flesh.' [Romans 13:14] 'Provision.' [footnote: Προνοια.] The word implies a forecasting of the mind; and the prohibition therefore is against all deliberation or devising of means or expedients for the gratification of our lusts. […] [page 321] He is a...1836–1842, Thomas Chalmers, “Lecture XCIV: Romans, xiii, 11–14”, in Lectures on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (The Works of Thomas Chalmers; 25), volume IV, Glasgow: William Collins...
- An imperial grant to an individual of temporary fiscal rights in the form of land, incomes or taxes from land, fishing rights, etc., sometimes carrying with it an obligation of military service.
- Unlike fiefs, pronoiai were granted only by the emperor, and so they played no role in producing the subinfeudation and the hierarchical social and political structure characteristic of Western feudalism. Pronoia was a fiscal and administrative institution; the fief territorial and personal. The...1992, Mark C. Bartusis, “Smallholding and Pronoia Soldiers and Their Financing”, in Ruth Mazo Karras, editor, The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society, 1204–1453 (The Middle Ages Series)...
- By 1270 Michael VIII had issued charters to two monasteries in eastern Thessaly near the Gulf of Volos (Makrinitisa and Neopetra), showing he had acquired that region. From these years imperial grants of pronoias and of tax exemptions to various notables of east Thessaly begin appearing. Thus...1987, John V[an] A[ntwerp] Fine, Jr., “The Second Half of the Thirteenth Century”, in The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, Ann Arbor...
Noun (2)
pronoia (uncountable)
- A belief (sometimes regarded as irrational) that people conspire to do one good.
- Pronoia is the positive counterpart of paranoia. It is the delusion that others think well of one. Actions and the products of one's efforts are thought to be well received and praised by others. Mere acquaintances are thought to be close friends; politeness and the exchange of pleasantries are...1982 October 1, Fred H. Goldner, “Pronoia”, in Social Problems, volume 30, number 1, Berkeley, Calif.: Published by the University of California Press for the Society for the Study of Social...
- "Pronoia" is comparable to paranoia (which is commonly believed to be a mental disease), but is its emotional opposite. The paranoic thinks that everyone and everything are conspiring against him. So-called pronoids see reality as quite positive, and regard themselves as responsible for good...1997, Trudy Govier, “Socrates, the Sting Ray of Athens”, in Socrates’ Children: Thinking and Knowing in the Western Tradition, Peterborough, Ont.; Orchard Park, N.Y.: Broadview Press, →ISBN, page 18
- Antonyms:
- paranoia
pronoia meaning in Persian
pronoia in Persian
- belief that people conspire to do one good
- پرونویا
Examples of pronoia in a sentence
- But it is not against all pronoia, all respect to things future, even though the futurities of this life, that the Bible warns us.1836–1842, Thomas Chalmers, “Lecture XCIV: Romans, xiii, 11–14”, in Lectures on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (The Works of...
- For the Stoics the immanent Logos governs all by nous and pronoia (D.L. vii, 138; SVF i, 176).1967, F[rancis] E[dward] Peters, “prónoia: forethought, providence”, in Greek Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexicon, New York, N.Y....
- Pronoia was a fiscal and administrative institution; the fief territorial and personal.1992, Mark C. Bartusis, “Smallholding and Pronoia Soldiers and Their Financing”, in Ruth Mazo Karras, editor, The Late Byzantine Army: Arms...
- From these years imperial grants of pronoias and of tax exemptions to various notables of east Thessaly begin appearing.1987, John V[an] A[ntwerp] Fine, Jr., “The Second Half of the Thirteenth Century”, in The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the...
Antonyms of pronoia
Forms of pronoia
| plural | pronoiae |
|---|---|
| plural | pronoiai |
| plural | pronoias |
Origin of pronoia
Borrowed from Ancient Greek πρόνοιᾰ (prónoiă, “foreknowledge, foresight; providence; form of land grant”), from πρόνοος (prónoos, “careful, prudent”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, suffix forming nouns). πρόνοος is derived from προ- (pro-, prefix indicating a coming forth) + νόος (nóos, “the mind; act of the mind”). The English word is cognate with Latin pronoea (“providence”). The plural form pronoiae is probably a modification of Latin pronoeae, while pronoiai is from Ancient Greek πρόνοιαι (prónoiai).
From pro- + (para)noia, coined by American sociologist Fred H. Goldner in a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems in August 1981. A version of this paper, entitled “Pronoia”, was published in the journal Social Problems in October 1982: see the quotation.
Words formed from pronoia
Words that rhyme with pronoia
Questions about pronoia
- What does pronoia mean?
- Pronoia means divine providence, foreknowledge, foresight.
- What is pronoia in Persian?
- Pronoia in Persian is پرونویا. See Pronoia meaning in Persian.
- How do you use pronoia in a sentence?
- But it is not against all pronoia, all respect to things future, even though the futurities of this life, that the Bible warns us.
- What part of speech is pronoia?
- Pronoia is a noun.
- How do you pronounce pronoia?
- Pronoia is pronounced /pɹəʊˈnɔɪə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of pronoia?
- The plural of pronoia is pronoiae.
Words near pronoia in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pronoia (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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