prophesying

prophesying is the present participle and gerund of prophesy.

Noun

prophesying (plural prophesyings)

A prophecy.
- He had not the writings nor prophesyings of any going before, nor yet the concurrence of any church or people to strengthen him; and yet his faith in the word, by which he contradicted the whole world, saved him and his house.1831, Robert Barclay, George Keith, Truth triumphant through the spiritual warfare, Christian labours, and writings of that able and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, Robert Barclay
(historical) A religious meeting to discuss parts of Scripture and their possible use in sermons.

Meaning of prophesy

Verb

prophesy (third-person singular simple present prophesies, present participle prophesying, simple past and past participle prophesied)

To speak or write with divine inspiration; to act as prophet.
- And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joel 2:28
To predict, to foretell (with or without divine inspiration).
- Then I perceive that will be verified
  Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy
  ‘If once he come to be a cardinal,
  He’ll make his cap co-equal with the crown.’1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
Synonyms:

vaticinate
To foreshow; to herald; to prefigure.
- Methought thy very gait did prophesy
  A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
(intransitive) To speak out on the Bible as an expression of holy inspiration; to preach.
- […] if we consider that we have no certain wayes of determining places of difficulty and Question, infallibly and certainly […] we shall see a very great necessity in allowing a liberty in Prophesying without prescribing authoritatively to other mens consciences, and becomming Lords and Masters of...1646, Jeremy Taylor, Of the Liberty of Prophesying, Section 4, in Treatises of 1. The liberty of prophesying, 2. Prayer ex tempore, 3. Episcopacie: together with a sermon, London: R. Royston, 1648...

Forms of prophesying

plural	prophesyings

Questions about prophesying

What does prophesying mean?: Prophesying means a prophecy.
What is prophesying the present participle and gerund of?: Prophesying is the present participle and gerund of prophesy.
What part of speech is prophesying?: Prophesying is a noun.
What is the plural of prophesying?: The plural of prophesying is prophesyings.

Words near prophesying in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: prophesying (page history and authors); prophesy (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “prophesying.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prophesying. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.