Forecasting

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of using historical and current data to make informed projections about what may happen in the future
2. The process of estimating upcoming conditions based on analysis of past and present information
3. Making calculated guesses about what will occur later by examining existing data patterns

Etymology: "Forecasting" is simply "forecast" with the suffix "-ing" attached, and the Middle English form "forcastyng" shows the same construction already in use in medieval English. The older verb "forecast" itself combines "fore," meaning "before," with "cast," in the sense of throwing or calculating, so the word literally means casting something ahead of time. An early English image of the process is that of a person throwing a figure forward into the future. The original sense was closer to planning or arranging in advance than to predicting in the modern scientific manner. Over the centuries the idea of casting ahead narrowed toward estimating what will happen, and the "-ing" ending turned the action into a continuing practice, so that "forecasting" now names the whole activity of making predictions, from weather reports to economic estimates.

Synonyms: predicting, projecting, estimating, prognosticating, anticipating

Antonyms: retrospecting