What does soothsaying mean?
Soothsaying is the practice of predicting the future through a person or method believed to possess special prophetic insight. The expression can refer either to the practice itself or to an individual prediction. Its modern use is often derogatory: calling something soothsaying suggests that the alleged forecast is speculative, superstitious, or unsupported by evidence. The term has a long literary history and appears in accounts of ancient Greek oracles, Norse mythology, and traditional accounts of prophets and seers. Although it may refer sincerely to a religious or spiritual practice, it commonly carries a skeptical or mocking implication. The related word soothsayer designates the person who makes such predictions, while the older verb soothsay means to prophesy. Soothsaying is therefore especially useful when discussing how societies have imagined, interpreted, and sometimes challenged attempts to know the future.
nounThe practice of predicting the future through supposed prophetic insight, or a prediction made in this way. The term is often used dismissively to characterize unverifiable claims about what will happen.
- The practice or purported ability to predict the future.
- A prediction or prophetic utterance made by a soothsayer.
"She dismissed the merchant's confident soothsaying as wishful thinking."
"Ancient soothsaying attributed supernatural powers to particular rivers, animals, and celestial events."
"His prediction of a record-breaking harvest sounded to the critics like soothsaying."
Rare; the word is normally used in the singular or as an uncountable noun.
"The manuscript preserved several soothsayings attributed to legendary prophets."
A soothsayer claims to reveal what lies ahead; the skeptical sound of the word tells you what many modern listeners think of that claim.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does soothsaying come from?
The word combines the Old English sōþ, meaning “truth,” with secgan, the Old English ancestor of “say.” The expression developed in Middle English as soothsayen, literally “to say the truth,” before acquiring the more specific sense of prophetic prediction. The same components survive in words such as “sooth,” “soothfast,” and “soothly,” although these are now archaic.
Related word forms
How soothsaying is actually used
A literary and generally archaic or dismissive term. It is most commonly used in the phrase 'ancient soothsaying' or to describe claims regarded as fanciful or unreliable.
Easily confused with soothsaying
A saying is a customary expression or piece of advice, whereas soothsaying is a claim or practice involving prediction of the future.
A soothsayer is a person believed or claimed to predict the future, while soothsaying is the practice or the prediction itself.