different between prophesy vs calculate

English

Etymology

From Middle English prophecien; partly from prophecie, and partly from Middle French prophecier, prophesier, from prophecie (“prophecy”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p??f?sa?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p??f?sa?/

Verb

prophesy (third-person singular simple present prophesies, present participle prophesying, simple past and past participle prophesied)

1. To speak or write with divine inspiration; to act as prophet. [from 14th c.]
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Joel 2:28,^[1]

     And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

   • 1648, Robert Herrick, “Not every day fit for Verse” in Hesperides, London: John Williams & Francis Eglesfield, p. 285,^[2]

     ’Tis not ev’ry day, that I

     Fitted am to prophesie:

     No, but when the Spirit fils

     The fantastick Pannicles:

     Full of fier; then I write

     As the Godhead doth indite.

   • 1958, Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Oxford: Heinemann, 1996, Part One, Chapter Eleven, p. 70,^[3]

     […] at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night. It was Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, prophesying. There was nothing new in that. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy.

2. To predict, to foretell (with or without divine inspiration). [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act V, Scene 1,^[4]

     Then I perceive that will be verified

     Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy

     ‘If once he come to be a cardinal,

     He’ll make his cap co-equal with the crown.’

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 1 Kings 22:8,^[5]

     He doth not prophesy good concerning me.

   • 1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton, Chapter 5,^[6]

     People prophesied a long continuance to this already lengthened frost; said the spring would be very late; no spring fashions required; no summer clothing purchased for a short uncertain summer.

   • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 745:

     ‘It has been prophesied more than once that he will find it.’

3. To foreshow; to herald; to prefigure.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act V, Scene 3,^[7]

     Methought thy very gait did prophesy

     A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.

4. (intransitive, Christianity) To speak out on the Bible as an expression of holy inspiration; to preach. [from 14th c.]
   • 1646, Jeremy Taylor, Of the Liberty of Prophesying, Section 4, in Treatises of 1. The liberty of prophesying, 2. Prayer ex tempore, 3. Episcopacie: together with a sermon, London: R. Royston, 1648, p. 73,^[8]

     […] if we consider that we have no certain wayes of determining places of difficulty and Question, infallibly and certainly […] we shall see a very great necessity in allowing a liberty in Prophesying without prescribing authoritatively to other mens consciences, and becomming Lords and Masters of their Faith.

Related terms

• prophecy
• prophesier
• prophesize (nonstandard)
• prophet
• prophetic
• prophetize

Translations

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin calcul?tus, perfect passive participle of calcul? (“I reckon, originally by means of pebbles”), from calculus (“a pebble”). Refer to calculus for origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kælkj?le?t/, /?kælkj?le?t/
• Hyphenation: cal?cu?late

Verb

calculate (third-person singular simple present calculates, present participle calculating, simple past and past participle calculated)

1. (transitive, mathematics) To determine the value of something or the solution to something by a mathematical process.

2. (intransitive, mathematics) To determine values or solutions by a mathematical process; reckon.
3. (intransitive, US, dialect) To plan; to expect; to think.
4. To ascertain or predict by mathematical or astrological computations the time, circumstances, or other conditions of; to forecast or compute the character or consequences of.

5. To adjust for purpose; to adapt by forethought or calculation; to fit or prepare by the adaptation of means to an end.
   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Advantages of Religion to particular Persons

     [Religion] is […] calculated for our benefit.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (determine value of or solution to): compute, reckon (old), work out
• (determine values or solutions): compute, reckon (old)

Derived terms

• backcalculate
• calculating

Related terms

• calculation
• calculus
• calculator
• incalculable

Translations

Further reading

• calculate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• calculate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “calculate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Latin

Verb

calcul?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of calcul?
   1. "calculate ye, compute ye"
   2. (figuratively) "consider ye as, esteem ye"

Participle

calcul?te

1. vocative masculine singular of calcul?tus