Meanings
present singular third person precognizes · participle present precognizing · participle past precognized · past precognized
- To display or have precognition; to have (paranormal) knowledge of a future event before it occurs.
One fact of importance is that so far as the evidence goes we do not precognize the whole of our future. Why is this? It may have the same sort of explanation as the fact that we do not remember the whole of our past.
1961, K. W. Rankin, Choice and Chance, a Libertarian Analysis3 more examples
... misuse could hardly be the result of precognizing that a certain event would occur (e.g. if I unwittingly drink poison just after precognizing the hour of my death, I shall not regard the potion as ineffective when its true nature is revealed to me.
1999, Michael Tooley, Time and Causation, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 88He almost did what he needed to do to fill in various parts of a comprehensive theory, which I'm still working on, because precognition is part of it. He couldn't precognize, but he provided one of the main tools in the theory of precognition.
2015, Richard Grossinger, Lindy Hough, Io Anthology, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 378Lilil hoped an hour before the drawing was close enough to the event to precognize the numbers. She could not precognize events yet, only people's intentions, but if this experiment failed, she'd only be out a dollar.
2007, Amia Kettier, Awakening, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 46
Origin
From pre- + cognize or back-formed from precognizance, precognition.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
precognize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/precognize
“precognize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/precognize. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “precognize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/precognize.
Source: precognize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.