Definition of "prophesy" [proph•e•sy]

• To reveal by divine inspiration. (verb-transitive)
• To predict with certainty as if by divine inspiration. See Synonyms at foretell. (verb-transitive)
• To prefigure; foreshow. (verb-transitive)
• To reveal the will or message of God. (verb-intransitive)
• To predict the future as if by divine inspiration. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term prophesy, in this instance, must be restricted to the use of psalmody, because exposition or exhortation in public was not permitted to the women, who were not allowed to speak or even to ask a question in a place of worship."
• "The Micah prophesy is clearly about someone of the Bethlehem Ephratah clan."
• "Roth has long been pessimistic about the survival of the novel in a gaudy, short-attention-span culture, but his latest prophesy is one of his bleakest yet, predicting that the form will dwindle to a “cultic” minority enthusiasm within 25 years."