Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Prophet for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Today's word is "Prophet" — noun, pronounced /ˈprɒfɪt/, with the stress on "proph".
Narrator: A prophet is a person believed to be chosen by God to speak for him or to foretell the future.
Narrator: In plain English, it's a messenger of God or a foreteller.
Narrator: It comes from the Greek prophētēs, one who speaks for another.
Narrator: A common collocation is "a prophet of doom", which describes someone always predicting disaster.
Narrator: It differs from "profit", which sounds the same but means money gained.
Narrator: In a secular sense, a prophet is a leading advocate of a new idea.
Narrator: Religion, history, literature and business writing all rely on the word.
Narrator: So remember: a prophet speaks for God or foresees the future.
Speaker A: What's a prophet of doom?
Speaker B: Someone always predicting disaster! PROPHET comes from the Greek for speaking for another.
Speaker A: Like a gloomy forecaster?
Speaker B: Exactly.
Speaker A: Example sentences?
Speaker B: "Moses is honoured as a prophet", religion. "He was a prophet of the digital age", advocate. "Ignore the prophets of doom", pessimists.
Speaker A: Common mistakes?
Speaker B: Do not confuse prophet with profit; they are homophones.
Speaker A: Close relatives?
Speaker B: Seer is its cousin, oracle is its twin, and visionary is the modern alternative, but prophet keeps its sacred charm!
Speaker B: Let's use "prophet" in AI prompts — useful for religious studies and spell-checking.
Speaker A: How would religious studies use it?
Speaker B: Compare traditions.
Prompt: Compare the role of the prophet in Judaism, Christianity and Islam in a respectful table.
Speaker A: And spell-checking?
Speaker B: Homophones.
Prompt: Flag places where prophet and profit may be confused in this text.
Speaker A: Could it help business writing?
Speaker B: Yes, metaphors.
Prompt: Rewrite this headline calling an investor a prophet so it sounds less exaggerated.
Speaker A: One more?
Speaker B: Literature.
Prompt: Summarise the role of the prophet Tiresias in Greek tragedy.
Prophet — meaning in Arabic & definition More P courses GL Dictionary