摘要：“Prescient”源自拉丁语“praesciens”，是“praescire”的现在分词形式，由“prae-”（之前、先前）和“scire”（知道）组成，字面意为“预先知道”。“Scire”也是“science”（科学）和“conscious”（意识）的词

SATGRE

prescient

英 ['presiənt] 美 ['presiənt]

adj.预知的；有先见之明的

◉Etymology

“Prescient”源自拉丁语“praesciens”，是“praescire”的现在分词形式，由“prae-”（之前、先前）和“scire”（知道）组成，字面意为“预先知道”。“Scire”也是“science”（科学）和“conscious”（意识）的词根，暗示对知识的掌握。“Prescient”在17世纪进入英语，最初多用于宗教或神秘主义语境，描述先知或神谕般的洞察力，后来扩展到世俗场景，形容对未来趋势的敏锐预测。其名词形式“prescience”（/ˈpresiəns/）同样指预见能力。

◉外刊例句

① 《The New York Times》 (2023年10月18日)

Her prescient warnings about artificial intelligence’s risks are now echoed by industry leaders.

她对人工智能风险的预见性警告如今得到了行业领袖的共鸣。

② 《The Economist》 (2024年9月30日)

The novel’s prescient depiction of a divided society feels eerily relevant today.

这部小说对分裂社会的预见性描写在今天显得惊人地贴切。

◉经典名著

① 《弗兰肯斯坦》（Frankenstein）——玛丽·雪莱 (1818年)

His prescient fears of the creature’s power haunted him long before its wrath was unleashed.

他对怪物力量的预见性恐惧早在其愤怒爆发前就一直困扰着他。

② 《1984》——乔治·奥威尔 (1949年)

Orwell’s prescient vision of surveillance cast a long shadow over the modern world.

奥威尔对监控社会的预见性视野为现代世界投下了长长的阴影。

◉Usage Examples

(1) His prediction about the Iraq war back in 2002 has proved strikingly prescient.

(1) 回溯2002年他对伊拉克战争的预见，如今被醒目地证明是先见之明。

◉Usage Notes

To be prescient is to have foresight or foreknowledge. We can use this word to describe people themselves, or what they say or do at a given moment.

You probably know that the Latin prefix pre- means "before," so you might be able to figure out that the word prescient, from the verb praescire, means to "know beforehand." People like economists, sports commentators, and political analysts often get tagged with this word, because it's part of their job to sift through the data and make predictions — and sometimes they get it right. And when they're not just lucky, we might say they're prescient.

1. [ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词]预知的；预见性的；能预见未来的 If you say that someone or something was prescient, you mean that they were able to know or predict what was going to happen in the future. [FORMAL 正式]

...'Bob Roberts', an eerily prescient comedy about a populist multimillionaire political candidate.

《天生赢家》，一部关于一位拥有数千万家财的平民党政治候选人的怪诞预言性喜剧

prescience

Over the years he's demonstrated a certain prescience in foreign affairs.

这些年来，他已经在外交事务方面表现出一定的预见性。

来源：学无用的英语