Etymologically
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predictable

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /pɹəˈdɪktəbləl/, /pɹiˈdɪktəbləl/[1]

Etymology

It was formed from English predict + -able.[2][3][4][5] Predict is from Latin praedīcō (“to foretell”), from prae- (“before”) and dīcō (“to say”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Able to be predicted or foretold: 1820, in the Monthly Repository,[3][2] the mid-19th century in the Shorter Oxford.[5]

Semantic evolution

Used of a person, the adjective means acting in a way that is easy to foresee,[3][5] and in later use it often carries a pejorative sense: tiresomely unoriginal or conventional.[3] The adverb predictably in the sense "as could have been predicted" is attested from 1914.[2]

Timeline

  • 1820 – able to be foretold.[3][2]
  • 1914 – predictably, as could have been expected.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Able to be predicted or expected: Rainfall here follows a predictable pattern.
  2. Of a person or thing, behaving or happening in an expected way; often, dull and unoriginal: The film's ending was depressingly predictable.

Word family

  • predictably

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press