Prospective
pruh-SPEK-tiv
/prəˈspɛktɪv/
Likely to happen at a future date; concerned with or looking forward to the future.
Often used to describe someone who is a potential candidate or future member of a group, like 'prospective students' or 'prospective buyers.'
The story behind the word. 'Prospective' comes from the Latin verb prospicere, which means 'to look forward.' It's a combination of pro- ('forward') and specere ('to look'). So, a 'prospective' student is literally someone the university is 'looking forward' to potentially admitting, or someone who is 'looking forward' to attending.
Word relationships
- Potential: emphasizes inherent ability or possibility
- Future: more general, simply referring to time ahead
- Upcoming: suggests something is approaching soon
- Past: referring to time gone by
- Former: referring to something that once was
Commonly confused with
- Perspective: 'Prospective' means looking forward to the future; 'perspective' means a point of view or way of looking at things.
Word family
- Prospect (noun): the possibility or likelihood of some future event occurring; a potential customer or candidate
- Prospection (noun): the act of looking forward or exploring for something
Collocations
- prospective student
- prospective buyer
- prospective client
- prospective employee
- prospective changes
- prospective benefits
Example sentences
- "Prospective students are encouraged to visit the campus and attend an information session." Referring to potential students.
- "The company is interviewing several prospective candidates for the CEO position." Referring to potential employees.
- "They discussed the prospective benefits of the merger, though nothing was guaranteed." Referring to future benefits.
Memory hook
Think of 'PRO-SPECT-ive' as 'PROfessionally SPECTating the future.' Pro-spect the future.
When not to use
Don't use 'prospective' if something is definite or already decided. It implies possibility or expectation, not certainty.
Fun facts
- The root specere gives us many words related to looking, like 'spectacle,' 'inspect,' and 'respect.'
- In legal contexts, 'prospective' refers to laws or rulings that apply to future events, not past ones.
Related words
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