Prescient means having knowledge about something before it happens, as if you could see into the future. When someone makes a prescient prediction, they correctly guess what will happen later, often in a way that seems almost magical.

If your friend says “I have a bad feeling about this plan” right before it falls apart, they were being prescient. When a scientist warns about a problem years before it occurs, that's a prescient warning. Writers are sometimes called prescient when their stories about the future turn out to match reality. For example, some science fiction authors in the 1960s wrote prescient stories about computers and the internet long before they existed.

Being prescient is different from just making a lucky guess. It suggests wisdom, careful observation, or deep understanding that lets someone see patterns others miss. A prescient person notices small clues and thinks ahead, like a chess player who sees five moves ahead or a weather forecaster who spots the early signs of a major storm.

While no one can actually see the future, people who pay close attention, study carefully, and think deeply sometimes make predictions that seem prescient when they come true.