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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > PRECOGNITION

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pronounce PRECOGNITION:

PREE kog NISH un
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connect this word to others:

As we check out the word precognition, let's recall some closely related terms that also derive from the Latin cognoscere, meaning "to recognize, or to get to know:"

1. Something cog____ve, such as a test, a bias, or a decline, has to do with thinking or learning.

2. To be cog___ant of something is to be aware of it, or to understand it.

3. Literally "unknown land," terra __cogn___ is any place or idea that's unknown and unexplored.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)   

definition:

The word "cognition" dates back to 1447 in English and comes from the Latin cognoscere, "to know." Cognition is the act of thinking or knowing, or the process of learning and using what you've learned. 

Since the year 1500 or possibly even earlier, we've also used the word "precognition" for the idea of knowing something ahead of time, before it happens, as if in a magical way. For example, texts from the 1500s talk about God having precognition: knowledge of what will happen before it happens. 

That's still how we use the word today. If you can predict the future, whether you saw it magically like in a dream or a vision, or you figured it out logically from patterns in nature or in human behavior, you have precognition.

In other words, precognition is foreknowledge: knowledge of what will happen before it happens, maybe due to mystical powers or logical projections.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the uncountable kind: "She's capable of precognition;" "Do you believe in precognition?"

Other forms: 

The adjective is "precognitive," pronounced "pre KOG nuh tiv." Hear it here.

There's also a rare verb, "precognize," as in "People give Nostradamus credit for precognizing various wars and pestilences."

how to use it:

While there are plenty of other words that name the magical concept of predicting the future, like "fortune-telling," "foreknowledge," and "clairvoyance," sometimes you need a formal one that sounds vaguely scientific. "Precognition" is perfect for that. 

You might talk about people believing (or disbelieving) in precognition, or about people being capable (or incapable) of precognition.

To exaggerate someone's ability to make good, logical predictions, you might call it precognition. "Some folks credit the historian Allan Lichtman with precognition. He correctly predicted the results of 8 of the last 10 presidential elections."

And to use the adjective, you might talk about precognitive dreams, visions, intuitions, abilities, or predictions. "Allan Lichtman correctly predicted the results of 8 of the last 10 presidential elections. Impressive, but not exactly precognitive."

examples:

"Watching [Derek 'iDom' Ruffin play in the Street Fighter V tournament] was electrifying. He had this icy calmness to him, able to read and anticipate his opponents' moves in ways that can best be described as precognition."
 — Ash Parrish, The Verge, 8 August 2022

"When I was a kid I once dreamed of hitting a grand-slam home run and two days later I hit a bases-loaded triple... When one has such a dream and the predicted event happens, it's hard not to believe in precognition. But, as the following derivation shows, such experiences are more rationally accounted for by coincidence."
 — John Allen Paulos, Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences, 1988

has this page helped you understand "precognition"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "precognition" without saying "foresight" or "clairvoyance."

try it out:

According to the Guardian: "In the US, skeptics about psychic phenomena outnumber believers, but not by much. Polls tend to show that around one-third to one-half of Americans believe in phenomena such as telepathy and precognition. These beliefs fuel a $2bn psychic services industry that has been growing steadily since the 2008 recession."

How about you: do you personally believe in precognition? If so, to what extent? If not, why? Also, what's your opinion of this multi-billion-dollar psychic services industry: do you think it basically helps or hurts people, or both, and why?




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "The LOL Is In the Details."

I'll give you a vague version of a quote from a funny writer or speaker, then prompt you to liven it up with detail. To see the original quote, scroll all the way down.

Here's an example:

"Don't order any of the faerie food… It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute you’re snacking, the next minute you’re doing something insane."

Snacking on what? Doing what?

You might say, "One minute you’re sampling a mushroom tart, the next minute you’re doing the Macarena."

And the writer's original version was "One minute you're munching on a faerie plum, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head."
— Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, 2007

Try this one today:

"Let’s make a movie called Dinosaurs in the Hood... I want residents outside their homes taking down the dinosaurs."

What kind of residents? Outside where, specifically? What kind of dinosaurs are they taking down? With what weapons?

review this word:

1. The opposite of PRECOGNITION is

A. COGITATION: the act of thinking about something deeply or carefully.
B. RETROCOGNITION: paranormal knowledge of what has happened in the past.
C. QUINTESSENCE: the purest, most perfect, most essential part of something.

2. In The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry, Lance Dodes, MD, and Zachary Dodes write that when you understand the psychology of addiction, you gain "a kind of precognition:" the ability to _____.

A. predict when an addictive urge will hit, and therefore fend it off
B. approach abstinence with the dedication of a professional athlete
C. defang the horrors of addiction, and therefore eliminate them meticulously




Answers to the review questions:
1. B
2. A

From the game:

Any unique version of the quote that you created is great! Here's the original:

"Let’s make a movie called Dinosaurs in the Hood... I want grandmas on the front porch taking out raptors with guns they hid in walls & under mattresses."
—  Danez Smith, "Dinosaurs in the Hood," 2014



a final word:


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I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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