prescient
seeming to know what will happen before it does
Roots
- pre-: before, earlier, or in front
- sci / scire: know, understand, or be aware
Other words with the sci / scire root
- conscience: inner sense of right and wrong
- conscientious: careful and guided by duty or conscience
- conscious: awake or aware
- prescience: knowledge of events before they happen
- science: organized knowledge tested by observation
Pre- gives before; sci gives know. Prescient is knowing before the rest of the room catches up.
Her warning about the market sounded prescient six months later.
Prescient is not just smart. It feels early: someone sees the shape of what is coming before it becomes obvious to everyone else.