PROMPTER (prompter)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: prompter   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prompter mean? 

• PROMPTER (noun)
  The noun PROMPTER has 2 senses:

1. someone who assists a performer by providing the next words of a forgotten speech

2. a device that displays words for people to read

  Familiarity information: PROMPTER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROMPTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who assists a performer by providing the next words of a forgotten speech

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

prompter; theater prompter

Hypernyms ("prompter" is a kind of...):

assistant; help; helper; supporter (a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose)

Derivation:

prompt (assist (somebody acting or reciting) by suggesting the next words of something forgotten or imperfectly learned)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A device that displays words for people to read

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

autocue; prompter

Hypernyms ("prompter" is a kind of...):

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "prompter"):

Teleprompter (a prompter for television performers)

Derivation:

prompt (assist (somebody acting or reciting) by suggesting the next words of something forgotten or imperfectly learned)

 Context examples 

You were our audience and prompter.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Maria, she also thought, acted well, too well; and after the first rehearsal or two, Fanny began to be their only audience; and sometimes as prompter, sometimes as spectator, was often very useful.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

She knew that Mr. Yates was in general thought to rant dreadfully; that Mr. Yates was disappointed in Henry Crawford; that Tom Bertram spoke so quick he would be unintelligible; that Mrs. Grant spoiled everything by laughing; that Edmund was behindhand with his part, and that it was misery to have anything to do with Mr. Rushworth, who was wanting a prompter through every speech.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

As to his ever making anything tolerable of them, nobody had the smallest idea of that except his mother; she, indeed, regretted that his part was not more considerable, and deferred coming over to Mansfield till they were forward enough in their rehearsal to comprehend all his scenes; but the others aspired at nothing beyond his remembering the catchword, and the first line of his speech, and being able to follow the prompter through the rest.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)