Timeline for What's the word for someone who knows what you need in advance?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
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| Jul 7, 2021 at 13:24 | comment | added | dbmag9 | I'm sure there's an interesting Meta discussion to be had about the competing philosophies here as to whether a good answer captures the definition the OP gives or fits well in the context the OP wants to use it, if it can't necessarily do both. | |
| Jul 7, 2021 at 13:20 | comment | added | dbmag9 | @EdwinAshworth When I commented, yours was the top-ranked answer; I don't tend to stick around and pay much ongoing attention to questions here unless they really interest me. I think I was initially just going to make the point about provident being uncommon (which is very frequently an issue here, where non-native speakers risk mixing registers if no-one points it out) and the second point came to mind while I was writing. Please don't take an absence of my comment as a statement on the relative merits of different answers! | |
| Jul 7, 2021 at 11:41 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | @'Thomas Bitonti 'Provident doesn't capture all of the intended meaning.' No. As I say, a hypernym. But I'd say the meaning AHD, Collins and RHK Webster's list first (and they list senses according to idiomaticity) is a closer fit than 'thoughtful' ('pensive'? 'giving someone the best seat'?), 'prescient' (knowing that Italy will win on Sunday?) But no caveats in comments there. | |
| Jul 7, 2021 at 11:36 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | @dbmag9 (2) I might not have suggested this had not AHD listed it first. Note that 'thoughtful' and 'prescient' are probably even further from being an exact match, grosser hypernyms. Is there a reason you didn't point this out? // (1) ELU is aimed at practised Anglophones / linguists. I consider 'thoughtful' an inappropriate answer here (though not incorrect per se, of course). | |
| Jul 6, 2021 at 23:11 | comment | added | Thomas Bitonti | I'm with dbmag9: I wouldn't associate the sense of anticipating a need. I would accept provident as meaning satisfying a need, possibly by careful planning, but also possibly by luck. Provident doesn't capture all of the intended meaning. | |
| Jul 6, 2021 at 21:21 | comment | added | dbmag9 | As is often the case, it is worth pointing out that this is a fairly uncommon word which many native speakers would not understand. Moreover, (as a native speaker with a fairly large vocabulary) I would interpret the primary meaning of provident as meaning that someone provided (not necessarily anticipating needs), so this may not put the emphasis where the OP wants. | |
| Jul 6, 2021 at 11:53 | history | answered | Edwin Ashworth | CC BY-SA 4.0 |