prospective

prospective — adjective

1. relating to a person who may soon purchase a product, become a parent, or start

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

relating to a person who may soon purchase a product, become a parent, or start working for an organization, or to an event that will probably happen soon.

Example

The real estate agent showed the house to three prospective buyers on Saturday morning.

collocation: prospective buyer

Sivan and Joaquín attended a workshop for prospective parents at the local hospital.

collocation: prospective parent

Common collocations
  • prospective buyer
  • prospective client
  • prospective customer
  • prospective parent
  • prospective employee
  • prospective student
  • prospective candidate
  • prospective tenant
  • prospective changes
Synonyms
  • potential

    emphasizes inherent capability or possibility, while prospective stresses expectation or anticipation

  • future

    broader and more neutral; prospective adds the sense of something expected or likely

  • would-be

    more informal and often implies ambition without guarantee; prospective is more formal and implies realistic expectation

Antonyms
  • current

    present or existing now, rather than expected in the future

  • past

    already happened; the opposite of looking forward

Grammar Patterns

prospective + noun

Usage Note

Prospective is somewhat formal and almost always used attributively (directly before the noun). It is most common in business, academic, and official contexts. Common noun partners include buyer, client, customer, employee, student, parent, candidate, and tenant.

Common Mistakes

The buyer is prospective.
The prospective buyer looked at the house.
prospective cannot be used after the noun (predicative position).
I need a perspective employee.
I need a prospective employee.
do not confuse prospective with perspective (a point of view).

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe something or someone connected to a later time or a possible state, but they differ in emphasis and tone. Potential focuses on inherent capability or possibility — a potential leader has the right qualities, even if they never take the role. Future is the broadest and most neutral term, simply locating something in time ahead of now. Would-be is less formal and often suggests strong personal ambition without a guarantee of success, as in a would-be actor who goes to auditions. Prospective sits in the middle: it is more formal than would-be and more specific than future, implying a realistic expectation based on a selection or planning process. For example, a prospective buyer has made an inquiry or shown interest; a potential buyer may or may not have. A prospective parent is actively preparing; a would-be parent is someone who hopes to become one.

potential ↗future ↗would-be

Common collocations

Nouns

  • prospective buyer
  • prospective client
  • prospective customer
  • prospective parent
  • prospective employee
  • prospective student
  • prospective candidate
  • prospective tenant
  • prospective changes

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

From Latin 'prospectivus' (looking forward), from 'prospicere' (to look forward, to foresee), a combination of 'pro-' (forward) and 'specere' (to look). Entered English in the early 17th century.