different between predict vs fathom

English

Alternative forms

• prædict (archaic)

Etymology

Early 17th century, from Latin praed?c? (“to mention beforehand”) (perfect passive participle praedictus), from prae- (“before”) + d?c? (“to say”). Equivalent to Germanic forespeak, foretell, and foresay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???d?kt/
• Rhymes: -?kt

Verb

predict (third-person singular simple present predicts, present participle predicting, simple past and past participle predicted)

1. (transitive) To make a prediction: to forecast, foretell, or estimate a future event on the basis of knowledge and reasoning; to prophesy a future event on the basis of mystical knowledge or power.
   • 1590, E. Daunce, A Briefe Discourse on the Spanish State, 40

     After he had renounced his fathers bishoprick of Valentia in Spaine... and to attaine by degrees the Maiesty of Cesar, was created Duke of that place, gaue for his poesie, Aut Cesar, aut nihil. which being not fauoured from the heauens, had presently the euent the same predicted.

   • 2000, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, xiii.

     Professor Trelawney kept predicting Harry’s death, which he found extremely annoying.

   • 2012, Jeremy Bernstein, "A Palette of Particles" in American Scientist, Vol. 100, No. 2, p. 146

     The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.

2. (transitive, of theories, laws, etc.) To imply.
   • 1886, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 177. 338

     It is interesting to see how clearly theory predicts the difference between the ascending and descending curves of a dynamo.

   • 1996 June 3, Geoffrey Cowley. The biology of beauty, Newsweek

     For both men and women, greater symmetry predicted a larger number of past sex partners.

3. (intransitive) To make predictions.
   • 1652, J. Gaule, ???-?????? the mag-astro-mancer, 196

     The devil can both predict and make predictors.

4. (transitive, military, rare) To direct a ranged weapon against a target by means of a predictor.
   • 1943, L. Cheshire, Bomber Pilot, iii. 57

     They're predicting us now; looks like a barrage.

Synonyms

• foretell, forespell, forespeak, halsen

Antonyms

• retrodict

Related terms

Translations

Noun

predict (plural predicts)

1. (obsolete) A prediction.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 14:

     Or say with Princes if it shall go well, / By oft predict that I in heaven find.

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “predict”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Middle French

Verb

predict

1. past participle of predire

English

Etymology

From Middle English fathome, fadome, from Old English fæþm, fæþme (“outstretched or encircling arms, embrace, grasp, protection, interior, bosom, lap, breast, womb, fathom, cubit, power, expanse, surface”), from Proto-Germanic *faþmaz (“embrace”), from Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to spread out, extend”). Cognate with Low German fadem, faem (“a cubit, thread”), Dutch vadem, vaam (“fathom”), German Faden (“thread, filament, fathom”), Danish favn (“embrace, fathom”), Norwegian Bokmål favn (“embrace, fathom”), Swedish famn (“the arms, bosom, embrace”), Icelandic faðmur (“embrace”), Latin pate?, Ancient Greek ????????? (petánnumi), Ancient Greek ??????? (pétalos) [whence English petal].

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fæð?m/

Noun

fathom (plural fathoms)

1. (obsolete) Grasp, envelopment, control.
2. (units of measure, now usually nautical) An English unit of length for water depth notionally based upon the width of grown man's outstretched arms but standardized as 6 feet (about 1.8 m).

   Synonyms: brace, (obsolete) stade, (Greek) orguia
3. (units of measure) Various similar units in other systems.
   • 1611, Bible (KJV), Acts 27:28:

     And sounded, and found it twentie fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded againe, and found it fifteene fathoms.

4. (figuratively) Depth of insight, mental reach or scope.

Translations

Verb

fathom (third-person singular simple present fathoms, present participle fathoming, simple past and past participle fathomed)

1. (transitive, archaic) To encircle with outstretched arms, especially to take a measurement; to embrace.
2. (transitive) To measure the depth of, take a sounding of.
3. (transitive, figuratively) To get to the bottom of; to manage to comprehend; understand (a problem etc.).

   Synonyms: fathom out, figure out, puzzle out, work out

Translations

Derived terms

• fathomable
• fathometer
• fathomless
• fathom out
• unfathomable

See also

• deep six

Further reading

• fathom in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• fathom in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• fathom at OneLook Dictionary Search
• fathom on Wikipedia.Wikipedia