prospective Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective of or concerned with or related to the future
    • prospective earnings
    • a prospective mother
    • a prospective bride
    • the statute is solely prospective in operation

WordNet

Pro*spec"tive adjective
Etymology
L. prospectivus: cf. F. prospectif. See Prospect, n.
Definitions
  1. Of or pertaining to a prospect; furnishing a prospect; perspective. Obs.
    Time's long and dark prospective glass. Milton.
  2. Looking forward in time; acting with foresight; -- opposed to retrospective.
    The French king of Sweden are circumspect, industrious, and prospective, too, in this affair. Sir J. Child.
  3. Being within view or consideration, as a future event or contingency; relating to the future: expected; as, a prospective benefit.
    Points on which the promises, at the time of ordination, had no prospective bearing. W. Jay.
Pro*spec"tive noun
Definitions
  1. The scene before or around, in time or in space; view; prospect. Sir H. Wotton.
  2. A perspective glass. Obs. Chaucer. Beau. & Fl.

Webster 1913