prescience

plural presciences · alternative præscience

1. Knowledge of events before they take place.
   1. especiallyuncountableusuallySuch knowledge that is supernatural or paranormal in nature, including the prediction of things that nobody could have known by the ordinary senses.First known use 14th c.

      God's certain prescience of the volitions of moral agents

      1754, Jonathan Edwards, An Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions Respecting that Freedom of the Will which is supposed to be Essential to Moral Agency

      1 more example

      O thou, who thus the eye hast veil'd, The book of fate so slowly given, I thank thee, that thou hast conceal'd From man the prescience of heaven.

      1815, Lydia Sigourney, Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse, On a Sleeping Infant, page 198

      Synonyms: precognition, foresight, foreknowledge, clairvoyance, premonition, divination, prophecy, psychicness

   2. sometimesuncountableusuallySuch knowledge that comes from wise and thorough forethought (for example, careful planning).First known use 14th c.

      Near-synonym: forethought

      1 more example

      With prescience, the Barlows designed them to withstand a third more weight than they would be expected to bear in normal conditions - future proofing the bridge for the weight of trains we see using it today.

      2020 September 23, Paul Bigland, “The tragic tale of the Tay Bridge disaster”, in Rail, page 83

      Synonyms: foresight, forethought