prospective
/pɹəˈspɛktɪv/
prospective adjective: likely or expected to happen or become.
Adjective
prospective (not comparable)
- Likely or expected to happen or become.
- Prospective students are those who have already applied to the university, but have yet to be admitted.
- Anticipated in the near or far future.
- 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.1968, Herold Jacob Wiens, “I-CH’ANG”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 11, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 1054, column 1
- Of or relating to a prospect; furnishing a prospect.
- And in times long and dark Proſpective Glaſs / Fore-ſaw what future dayes ſhould bring to paſs,1626 (date written), John Milton, “At a Vacation Exercise in the Colledge, […]”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], published 1673, →OCLC, page 67
- Looking forward in time; acting with foresight.
- The French king, and the king of Sweden are […] circumspect, industrious, and prospective, too, in this affair.1668-1690, Josiah Child, A new discourse of trade
- Being a study that starts with the present situation and follows participants into the future
- Indicating grammatically an activity about to begin.
- What some other languages convey with prospective aspect, English conveys with expressions like going to drive the car home.
Noun
prospective (plural prospectives)
- The scene before or around, in time or in space; view; prospect.
- the whole Scene of affairs was changed from Spain to France there now lay the prospective1642, Henry Wotton, A Short View of the Life and Death of George Villiers
- A perspective glass.
- [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.1613 March 2 (first performance), Francis Beaumont, “The Masque of the Inner-Temple and Gray’s Inn, Gray’s Inn and the Inner-Temple; […]”, in The Dramatic Works of Ben Jonson, and Beaumont and...
- A prospective (potential) member, student, employee, date, partner, etc.
- Would you like to show the prospective around?
- I'm meeting the prospectives at 3.
prospective meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
prospective in Tamil
- எதிர்பார்ப்புள்ள, தொலை நோக்கு, வாய்ப்புள்ள
prospective in Bengali
- প্রত্যাশিত, ভবিষ্যাপেক্ষ
prospective in Malayalam
- prospective
- ദൃശ്യം dr̥śyaṁ
prospective in Kannada
- ಬರಲಿರುವ, ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಿತ, ಆಗಲಿರುವ, ಎದುರುನೋಡಿದ, ಭಾವೀ, ಭವಿಷ್ಯದ
Examples of prospective in a sentence
- With your shabby attire, you do not present well as a prospective investment banking associate!
- Tom googles all of his prospective girlfriends.
- The sale was almost agreed, but now the prospective purchasers seem to be suffering from a bad case of cold feet.
Forms of prospective
| plural | prospectives |
|---|
Origin of prospective
From Middle French prospectif, from Late Latin prospectivus. See more at English prospect.
Words formed from prospective
Words that rhyme with prospective
- projective
- subjective
- effective
- objective
- reflective
- collective
- connective
- defective
- directive
- respective
- selective
- injective
28 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- detective
- elective
- irrespective
- perfective
- retrospective
- affective
- bijective
- corrective
- erective
- ineffective
- inflective
- intellective
- intersubjective
- protective
- refective
- advective
- convective
- deflective
- ejective
- imperfective
- infective
- inspective
- introspective
- overprotective
- rejective
- surjective
- unreflective
- unselective
Questions about prospective
- What does prospective mean?
- Prospective means likely or expected to happen or become.
- What is prospective in Tamil?
- Prospective in Tamil is எதிர்பார்ப்புள்ள, தொலை நோக்கு, வாய்ப்புள்ள. See Prospective meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is prospective?
- Prospective can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce prospective?
- Prospective is pronounced /pɹəˈspɛktɪv/.
Words near prospective in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prospective (page history and authors); prospective (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prospective (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ദൃശ്യം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); prospective (Kannada Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-prospective.wav.
Cite this entry: “prospective.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prospective. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.