Prospect (meaning)
From Hull AWE
- The noun 'a prospect' (stressed on the first syllable: 'PRO-spect', IPA: /ˈprɒ spɛkt/) means, in general, 'a view' or an 'outlook': "from my room, the prospect of the city is delightful."
- There is a Christian hymn where the beauty of the Creation is contrasted with the sinfulness of humans, in the line
- Though every prospect pleases,
- And only man is vile
- (Heber, Reginald (Bishop of Calcutta) (1821) 'From Greenland's icy mountains')
- There is a Christian hymn where the beauty of the Creation is contrasted with the sinfulness of humans, in the line
- Perhaps more often, it is used figuratively: "The prospect of my retirement is even more delightful." In this sense, the word is often used in the plural: " In the current economic climate, the prospects of employment are not good."
- It is this sense of 'looking into the future' that gives us the adjective prospective, meaning 'potential', 'possible' or 'expected:
- In British English, the traditional academic pronunciation of the verb 'to prospect' stresses the second syllable: 'pruh-SPEKT', with the characteristic vague vowel, the schwa; IPA: /prə ˈspɛkt/. In the United States, it is invariably stressed in the same way as the noun. This is a less common variant in Britain, although the vowel here is not uncommonly realized like the '-o-' of 'not' and 'got' (IPA: /ɒ/. The meaning of this verb is derived from the figurative senses of the noun: a prospector is someone looking for mineral deposits. Such a miner is seeking to discover, from signs on the surface, whether the prospects of success are good. The bearded old miner prospecting for gold is a common stereotype in Western films. Nowadays, he has been supplanted by geologists using satellite and seismic technologies, etc, to reduce the element of chance.
- A word that should be familiar to students is prospectus. This (~ 'a document giving details of what may be expected from - a university, school or company') is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, 'pruh-SPECT-uhs', IPA: /prə ˈspɛkt əs/. Although it looks like - and indeed was - a Latin word, its modern use dates from 18th century French, where a prospectus was an announcement of a forthcoming book. So, contrary to the advice at -us in Latin, the [[plural of prospectus is prospectuses - not
prospecti.
- A word that should be familiar to students is prospectus. This (~ 'a document giving details of what may be expected from - a university, school or company') is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, 'pruh-SPECT-uhs', IPA: /prə ˈspɛkt əs/. Although it looks like - and indeed was - a Latin word, its modern use dates from 18th century French, where a prospectus was an announcement of a forthcoming book. So, contrary to the advice at -us in Latin, the [[plural of prospectus is prospectuses - not
- You may also want to see prospect (pronunciation), or AWE's page on perspective and prospective.
