predictor

English

Etymology

From predict ‎ -or.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈdɪk.tə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈdɪk.tɚ/

Noun

predictor (plural predictors)

1. Something that anticipates, predicts, or foretells.

   The rainfall in April is a predictor for the number of mosquitoes in May.

   The predictor in the traffic-light control circuit tries to figure out how fast to change the lights.

2. A predictor variable.
3. (uncommon) One who predicts.
   • 1900, Fur Trade Review Weekly, volume 28, page 223:

     THE only individual in this great city who has had a really easy time is the weather predictor; his only task from day to day has been to announce rain and gales, and through it all he has readily ranked as a prophet with honor in […]

   • 1907 April 6, “Curiosities of the Calendar”, in Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic, number 5,072, Cheltenham, Glos, page 8, column 4:

     The “Annual Register” for 1809 contains an extract from a remarkable letter, dated Bath, April 2nd, in which the writer describes the effects of an extraordinary panic arising from a supposed prophecy of the end of the world. The account is headed “Bath Credulity,” and the writer states:—“[…] Some affirmed that Joanna Southcott was the predictor, others that it was a prophet now living at Midford, near this city, who was with Noah in the Ark, and has been travelling over various parts of the world ever since; but the greater part affixed the name of a female fortune-teller residing at Bath. […],” etc.

   • 1916 August 25, “All Over Arkansas”, in Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Ark., page four, column 7:

     The All Over Arkansas Man marks a prediction and calls for the next predictor. If a predictress will do as well, I will proceed to predict that within 10 years from this date there will not be a fly in the state of Arkansas.

   • 2009, Expanding Climate Services at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Developing the National Climate Service: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, Committee on Science and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, First Session, May 5, 2009 (Serial No. 111-24), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, page 79:

     And I look at, for example, on Weather Service, and thinking only in my lifetime, the evolution of how we have come on Weather Service, where we have been able to get down to that regional level, where people, if you talk to them in communities, I mean, maybe it is not such a bad idea that they think that their local weatherperson is the weather predictor.

   • 2015, Thomas Calnan Sorenson, Liberating the Bible: A Pastor’s Guided Tour for Seeking Christians, Archway Publishing, →ISBN:

     So if a prophet isn’t primarily a future predictor, what is a prophet?

Derived terms

• branch predictor
• Kerrison predictor
• predictor variable
• predictress
• Vickers predictor

 

Translations

A person who anticipates what will occur in the future based on evidence.

• Asturian: adivín (ast), vidente (ast)
• Bulgarian: пророк (bg) m (prorok)
• Maori: kaimatapae
• Swahili: mbashiri (sw)

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾediɡˈtoɾ/ [pɾe.ð̞iɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: pre‧dic‧tor

Adjective

predictor (feminine predictora, masculine plural predictores, feminine plural predictoras)

1. predictive

Noun

predictor m (plural predictores)

1. predictor, indicator

Further reading

• “predictor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28