How to use prospective in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Prospective means likely or expected to happen or become. Example: “Prospective students are those who have already applied to the university, but have yet to be admitted.”

Examples of prospective by meaning

adjectiveLikely or expected to happen or become.

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

adjectiveAnticipated 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

adjectiveIndicating 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.

nounA prospective (potential) member, student, employee, date, partner, etc.

Would you like to show the prospective around?
I'm meeting the prospectives at 3.
At the moment, meeting interesting, 'could be, maybe not' prospectives around the globe keeps her entertained.2006, Verve: The Spirit of Today's Woman, volume 14, numbers 4-6, page 114

More sentences with prospective

With your shabby attire, you do not present well as a prospective investment banking associate!From the entry present
Tom googles all of his prospective girlfriends.From the entry google
The sale was almost agreed, but now the prospective purchasers seem to be suffering from a bad case of cold feet.From the entry cold feet
I showed him round the property thinking he was a prospective buyer, but in fact he was just a time-waster.From the entry time-waster
Bennington College in Vermont invites prospective students to curate their applications.2015 April 18, David Balzer, “‘Reading lists, outfits, even salads are curated – it’s absurd’”, in The Guardian. From the entry curate
This will reflect how cool, casual and not-at-all-obsessed-with-you-I-swear you are to your prospective Tinderella or fella.2014, Claire Dodson, "Five ways to make the most of Tinder", The Daily Beacon (University of Tennessee), Issue 3, Volume 127, 22 August…. From the entry Tinderella
They select a prospective victim who is apparently sleeping or unconscious.2013, DeVere D. Woods, O'Hara's Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation, →ISBN. From the entry lush worker
Christina's letter to Mary Haydon about prospective auntship shows that she had looked forward to greater friendship.2012, Jan Marsh, Christina Rossetti: A Literary Biography. From the entry auntship
Journalists and prospective sources wishing to attract their attention are constantly on the lookout for pegs.2010, Barbie Zelizer, Stuart Allan, Keywords in News and Journalism Studies, page 111. From the entry peg
Hilton invited prospective friends, male or female, to apply at her new Web site, ParisBFF.com.2008 March 15, Edward Wyatt, “Return From the Serious Life: Reality TV Has Paris Hilton Again”, in New York Times. From the entry friendlike
A friendly voice on the phone welcoming prospective new clients is a must.2006, Christopher Matthew Spencer, The Ebay Entrepreneur, page 248. From the entry give
The area was much too important to the prospective recoveree to be tampered with by mortal man.1996, Dick B., That Amazing Grace: The Role of Clarence and Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous, page 47. From the entry recoveree
I am sure he counts every bawling barearse babe as a prospective patient.1985, Robert E. Knoll, Intimate Fragments: An Irreverent Chronicle of Early Halifax, Nimbus Publishing Limited, published 1985, →ISBN…. From the entry barearse
During that period, the prospective employee is assessed by the househead and the rest of the staff.1985, Ontario Labour Relations Board, Ontario Labour Relations Board Reports, page 1475. From the entry househead
They recommended that prospective studies should be based on the mothers' intention to have a nonhospital delivery.1982, Research issues in the assessment of birth settings. From the entry nonhospital
Color television is a prospective new field for the use of europium and yttrium compounds.1966, Tsvetnye Metally, volume 7, number 2, page 3. From the entry photoapparatus
Usually, the quota under which a prospective immigrant must enter is determined by his place of birth.1964, John F. Kennedy, “Where We Stand”, in A Nation of Immigrants, Revised and Enlarged edition, Harper & Row, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 81. From the entry Asia-Pacific
This language, I believe, creates a definite hurdle for prospective small business mergees.1958, American Bar Association, Section of Antitrust Law, volume 13, page 89. From the entry mergee
But for the prospective draw for the wig—which reintroduced the aleatory—life would scarcely have been bearable.1910, Israel Zangwill, The Grey Wig. From the entry aleatory
Prospective candidates for sainthood normally need to have two miracles attributed to them before they can be canonized.2024 May 24, Christopher Lamb, “Italian teenager nicknamed ‘God’s influencer’ set to become Catholic Church’s first millennial saint”, in…. From the entry sainthood
Li recalled one prospective client who spent most of an hourlong phone call crying as she reminisced about her old home.2023 August 19, Vivian Wang, “In China, Artists Create Miniature Homes From Memories”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York…. From the entry faded
After buying, one has to move from one place to another persuading prospective buyers to take your goods.2021 October 24, Saumu Jumanne, “The plight of ‘machingas’, let’s show some love”, in The Citizen Tanzania, archived from the original on…. From the entry machinga
More “job interviews” with future prospective employers who float at you with an “I come in peace” motivation?2013, Timothy J. O'Leary III, The Dimensional Gateway. From the entry float at
In fact, NALP has been at the forefront of educating prospective lawyers on the dangers of focusing on “average” starting salaries.2010 July 23, Elie Mystal, “NALP Gives More Information on Expected Lawyer Salary”, in Above the Law, archived from the original on 15 Oct…. From the entry distribution
Belling recommends that prospective borrowers pay close attention during pretransaction financial counseling, which is compulsory for anyone seeking a reverse mortgage.2009 June 28, Bob Tedeschi, “Reverse Mortgages for Home Purchases”, in New York Times. From the entry pretransaction
Plans and files were removed to the Southampton office a week ago so they'd be available to prospective punters.2008, Minette Walters, Acid Row, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN. From the entry Portakabin
The prospective urban implies, therefore, ecumenopolitan order.2007: Baleshwar Thakur, George Pomeroy, Chris Cusack, and Sudhir K Thakur [eds.], City, Society, and Planning, volume 1: “City”, page 16…. From the entry ecumenopolitan
Perhaps a third category is required — nonvoluntary sterilization, or sterilization in the absence of the prospective sterilizee's consent or refusal.2000, Carol C. Donley, What's Normal?: Narratives of Mental & Emotional Disorders, page 79. From the entry sterilizee
Tentacles lashed out, grasping at the prospective meal.1989, Juanita Coulson, Legacy of earth, Del Rey, →ISBN. From the entry octopoid
John Wile of Willimantic and Bridgeton, Me., has been announced by the prospective bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs.1971 September 5, “Ottilie Sweet Engaged”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC. From the entry Ottilie
Some marks are misinfluence, misrepresentation, illegitimate children, and misinterpretation of the ways of society in the prospective territories.1959, Red, White, and Black: Ernow and Erlong Past, Present and Future, page 41. From the entry misinfluence
McGlade, has been announced by the prospective bride’s parents.1957 February 24, “Vanda Francese Will Be Married […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC. From the entry vanda
It should be pointed out to the prospective reader that he will not find here the systematic presentation of a metaphysic.1954, Frederick C. Copleston, “Review of Metaphysical Journal by Gabriel Marcel”, in Philosophy, volume 29, number 109, page 170. From the entry metaphysic
Joolby, addressing himself to his prospective customer but turning to favour the scandalised Parkinson with an implicatory leer.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London. From the entry implicatory

Meaning of prospective

adjective Likely or expected to happen or become.
adjective Anticipated in the near or far future.
adjective Of or relating to a prospect; furnishing a prospect.

Full definition of prospective

Questions about prospective in a sentence

How do you use prospective in a sentence?: Prospective is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “Prospective students are those who have already applied to the university, but have yet to be admitted.”
What is a short sentence with prospective?: “I'm meeting the prospectives at 3.”
What does prospective mean?: Prospective means likely or expected to happen or become.

Adapted from Wiktionary: prospective (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use prospective in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/prospective. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.