Prospective vs Probable - What's the difference?
prospective | probable |
Likely or expected to happen or become.
Anticipated in the near or far future.
Of or relating to a prospect; furnishing a prospect.
* Milton
Looking forward in time; acting with foresight.
* Sir J. Child
(obsolete) The scene before or around, in time or in space; view; prospect.
(obsolete) A perspective glass.
(informal, often plural) A (potential) member, student, employee, date, partner, etc.
* 2006 , Verve: The Spirit of Today's Woman , volume 14, issues 4-6, page 114:
Likely or most likely to be true.
Likely to happen.
Supporting, or giving ground for, belief, but not demonstrating.
(obsolete) Capable of being proved.
In obsolete terms the difference between prospective and probable
is that prospective is a perspective glass while probable is capable of being proved.As a noun prospective
is the scene before or around, in time or in space; view; prospect.prospective
English
Adjective
(-)- Prospective students are those who have already applied to the university, but have yet to be admitted.
- Time's long and dark prospective glass.
- The French king and king of Sweden are circumspect, industrious, and prospective , too, in this affair.
Noun
(en noun)- (Chaucer)
- (Beaumont and Fletcher)
- Would you like to show the prospective around?
- I'm meeting the prospectives at 3.
- At the moment, meeting interesting, 'could be, maybe not' prospectives around the globe keeps her entertained.
References
*probable
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- It's probable that it will rain tomorrow.
- The probable source of the failure was the mass of feathers in the intake manifold.
- With all the support we have, success is looking probable .
- probable''' evidence; '''probable presumption
- (Blackstone)