Dictionary

prospect

Etymology

From Latin prospectus, past participle of prospicere ("to look forward"), from pro ("before, forward") + specere, spicere ("to look, to see"), equivalent to pro- + -spect.

Pronunciation

- (RP) IPA: /ˈpɹɒspɛkt/
- (America) enPR: präsʹpĕkt, IPA: /ˈpɹɑspɛkt/
- (RP) enPR: prə-spĕktʹ, IPA: /pɹəˈspɛkt/
- (America) enPR: präsʹpĕkt, IPA: /ˈpɹɑspɛkt/

Noun

prospect (plural prospects)

The region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗, lines 543–552:
  As when a Scout […] Obtains the brow of ſome high-climbing Hill, / Which to his eye diſcovers unaware / The goodly proſpect of ſome forein land / Firſt-ſeen, or ſome renownd Metropolis / With gliſtering Spires and Pinnacles adornd, / Which now the Riſing Sun guilds with his beams.
A picturesque or panoramic view; a landscape; hence, a sketch of a landscape.
A position affording a fine view; a lookout.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗, lines 77–79:
  Him God beholding from his proſpect high, / Wherein paſt, preſent, future he beholds, / Thus to his onely Son forſeeing ſpake.
Relative position of the front of a building or other structure; face; relative aspect.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Ezekiel 40:44 ↗:
  Their prospect was toward the south.
The act of looking forward; foresight; anticipation.
- 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC ↗:
  a very ill prospect of a future state
- 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious:
  Is he a prudent man as to his temporal estate, that lays designs only for a day, without any prospect to, or provision for, the remaining part of life?
The potential things that may come to pass, often favorable.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
  We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
A hope; a hopeful.
(sports) Any player whose rights are owned by a top-level professional team, but who has yet to play a game for said team.
(sales) A potential client or customer.
(music) The façade of an organ.