predictive

adjective

pre·​dic·​tive pri-ˈdik-tiv 

1

: of, relating to, or usable or valuable for prediction

predictive medical factors

2

: based on or generated by using methods of prediction

predictive models

predictive text

Usually predictive policing refers to feeding reams of city data into a computer and dispatching extra officers to areas that are deemed to be at high risk of future crime.

—Leon Neyfakh

predictively adverb

Like an astrological chart, it can be made to fit any case, and it works better retrospectively than predictively.

—Carol Tavris

Synonyms

• prophetic
• prophetical

Examples of predictive in a Sentence

unfortunately, the stock market crash of 1929 turned out to be a predictive event, for the next decade was consumed by the Great Depression

Recent Examples on the Web

Its most potent intelligence use will be in predictive analysis, believes Rhombus Power’s CEO, Anshu Roy. —Frank Bajak, Fortune, 23 May 2024

According to tests conducted by Google DeepMind and Isomorphic, AlphaFold 3 can accurately predict 76% of protein interactions with small molecules, compared to 52% for the previous best predictive software. —Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 8 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1637, in the meaning defined at sense 1