PROPHET

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does prophet mean? 

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

1. an authoritative person who divines the future

2. someone who speaks by divine inspiration; someone who is an interpreter of the will of God

  Familiarity information: PROPHET used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROPHET (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An authoritative person who divines the future

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

oracle; prophesier; prophet; seer; vaticinator

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

diviner (someone who claims to discover hidden knowledge with the aid of supernatural powers)

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

prophetess (a woman prophet)

sibyl ((ancient Rome) a woman who was regarded as an oracle or prophet)

augur; auspex ((ancient Rome) a religious official who interpreted omens to guide public policy)

Derivation:

prophetic (foretelling events as if by supernatural intervention)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who speaks by divine inspiration; someone who is an interpreter of the will of God

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

religious person (a person who manifests devotion to a deity)

Instance hyponyms:

Zarathustra; Zoroaster (Persian prophet who founded Zoroastrianism (circa 628-551 BC))

Sophonias; Zephaniah (a Hebrew minor prophet of the late 7th century BC)

Zacharias; Zechariah (a Hebrew minor prophet of the late 6th century BC)

Samuel ((Old Testament) Hebrew prophet and judge who anointed Saul as king)

Abdias; Obadiah (a Hebrew minor prophet)

Nahum (a Hebrew minor prophet of the 7th century BC)

Moses ((Old Testament) the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites from Egypt across the Red sea on a journey known as the Exodus; Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai)

Mormon (the ancient prophet whose writings were revealed to Joseph Smith who founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

Mahomet; Mahound; Mohammad; Mohammed; Muhammad (the Arab prophet who, according to Islam, was the last messenger of Allah (570-632))

Micah; Micheas (a minor Hebrew prophet (8th century BC))

Manes (a Persian prophet who founded Manichaeism (216-276))

Malachi; Malachias (a Hebrew minor prophet of the 5th century BC)

Jonah ((Old Testament) Jonah did not wish to become a prophet so God caused a great storm to throw him overboard from a ship; he was saved by being swallowed by a whale that vomited him out onto dry land)

Joel (a Hebrew minor prophet)

Christ; Deliverer; Good Shepherd; Jesus; Jesus Christ; Jesus of Nazareth; Redeemer; Savior; Saviour; the Nazarene (a teacher and prophet born in Bethlehem and active in Nazareth; his life and sermons form the basis for Christianity (circa 4 BC - AD 29))

Jeremiah ((Old Testament) an Israelite prophet who is remembered for his angry lamentations (jeremiads) about the wickedness of his people (circa 626-587 BC))

Isaiah ((Old Testament) the first of the major Hebrew prophets (8th century BC))

Hosea (a minor Hebrew prophet (8th century BC))

Aggeus; Haggai; Habakkuk (a Hebrew minor prophet)

Ezechiel; Ezekiel (a Hebrew prophet of the 6th century BC who was exiled to Babylon in 587 BC)

Elijah (a Hebrew prophet in the Old Testament who opposed the worship of idols; he was persecuted for rebuking Ahab and Jezebel (king and queen of Israel); he was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire (circa 9th century BC))

Daniel ((Old Testament) a youth who was taken into the court of Nebuchadnezzar and given divine protection when thrown into a den of lions (6th century BC))

Amos (a Hebrew shepherd and minor prophet)

Derivation:

prophetic; prophetical (foretelling events as if by supernatural intervention)

 Context examples 

By thee, Sir Balaam the false prophet.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dear me, what a prophet you have proved yourself to be!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"There is no god but the Unknowable, and Herbert Spencer is its prophet," Judge Blount was saying at that moment.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A religious group that follows the words and belief system founded by the prophet Muhammad and are written in the Koran.

(Muslim, NCI Thesaurus)

You persecute the prophets! Galileo! Darwin, and I— (Prolonged cheering and complete interruption.)

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I know for myself that I was shocked into admiration of the boy, and I saw in him the splendid invincibleness of immortality rising above the flesh and the fears of the flesh, as in the prophets of old, to condemn unrighteousness.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

During the course of these troubles, the emperors of Blefusca did frequently expostulate by their ambassadors, accusing us of making a schism in religion, by offending against a fundamental doctrine of our great prophet Lustrog, in the fifty-fourth chapter of the Blundecral (which is their Alcoran).

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Child, child! said my aunt, smoothing her dress, how soon it might come between us, or how unhappy I might make our Little Blossom, if I meddled in anything, a prophet couldn't say.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Here, too, is part of Aaron's rod, and a lock of hair from Elisha the prophet.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Arthur and Norman, he found, believed in evolution and had read Spencer, though it did not seem to have made any vital impression upon them, while the young fellow with the glasses and the mop of hair, Will Olney, sneered disagreeably at Spencer and repeated the epigram, There is no god but the Unknowable, and Herbert Spencer is his prophet.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)