Vaticinate is a verb that means to foretell the future.
The Latin word vates (VOT es) means ‘prophet.’ Our word of the day has evolved from this word into a verb for what a prophet does: seeing the future. It entered the English language in the early 17th century. Here’s an example of it in use:
When my daughter was ten, I couldn’t vaticinate a future where this mild-mannered sweet girl would become a mixed martial arts champion. But here she is, living the life that no one who knew her as a child could possibly have predicted.
