prophesy

 
Pronunciation: /ˈprɒfɪsʌɪ/

verb (prophesies, prophesying, prophesied)

[with object]
  • say that (a specified thing) will happen in the future: Jacques was prophesying a bumper harvest [with clause]: the papers prophesied that he would resign after the weekend

Derivatives

prophesier

Pronunciation: /-sʌɪə/
noun

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French profecier, from profecie (see prophecy)

The words prophesy and prophecy are often confused. Prophesy is the spelling that should be used for the verb ( he was prophesying a bumper harvest), whereas prophecy is the correct spelling for the noun ( a bleak prophecy of war and ruin). The differentiation between the spellings of the noun and verb was not established until after 1700 and has no etymological basis, prophesy being at first a spelling variant of both the noun and the verb.