precognition

[ pree-kog-nish-uhn ]

noun

1. knowledge of a future event or situation, especially through extrasensory means.
2. Scots Law.
   1. the examination of witnesses and other parties before a trial in order to supply a legal ground for prosecution.
   2. the evidence established in such an examination.

precognition

/ ˌpriːkɒɡˈnɪʃən; priːˈkɒɡnɪtɪv /

noun

1. psychol the alleged ability to foresee future events See also clairvoyance clairaudience

Derived Forms

• precognitive, adjective

Other Words From

• pre·cog·ni·tive [pree-, kog, -ni-tiv], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of precognition¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Late Latin praecognitiōn-, s. of praecognitiō; pre-, cognition

Word History and Origins

Origin of precognition¹

C17: from Late Latin praecognitiō foreknowledge, from praecognoscere to foresee, from prae before + cognoscere to know, ascertain

Example Sentences

He had this icy calmness to him, able to read and anticipate his opponents’ moves in ways that can best be described as precognition.

From The Verge

Wallace had “a level of precognition about certain things,” he adds.

From New York Times

The publication of “Phase Six” is one of those moments of synchronicity that make you wonder if an author is capable of precognition.

From New York Times

His examples of questioned findings run from psychic precognition, psychological priming and the benefits of striking a ‘power pose’ to trachea transplants, the gut microbiome and autism-like characteristics in mice, and arsenic-based lifeforms.

From Nature

Ella has a “Thing,” a power that manifests variably as telepathy, precognition, telekinesis, but isn’t ever described in those terms; she experiences it as overwhelming grief and anger, as explosion and aftermath, and struggles with controlling and deploying it over the course of the book.

From New York Times