predictiveadj.

1637 R. Monro Exped. Scots Regim. i. xviii. 75 I did tell him a story of a vision, that was seene by a Souldier of the Colonells company, that morning before the enemy did storme, being a predictive dreame, and a true.

1659 J. Pearson Expos. Apostles Creed ii. 150 There is scarce an action which is not clearly predictive of our Saviour.

1739 S. Parvish Inq. into Jewish & Christian Revelation 309 If it was a Vision from divine Impulse (which I suppose you will not allow) it must be predictive of some future Event.

1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. ii. 243 Birds numerous flutter in the beams of day Not all predictive.

1839 W. Irving Mountjoy in Knickerbocker Dec. 523 That baleful and livid tint, predictive of a storm.

1878 C. Stanford Symbols Christ (new ed.) ii. 36 Using the word prophecy in its predictive sense.

1908 Westm. Gaz. 9 May 4/4 I can see with prophetic eyes and hear with predictive ears a development of programme-music which may in the future militate somewhat against the dominant position of the opera.

1972 Jrnl. Social Psychol. 88 145 Although the measures are required to compensate for educational disadvantage, they are also expected to have acceptable predictive validity in a system where all groups are competing for the limited further education places.

2005 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 28 Sept. a26/6 When the explanatory and predictive power of a theory becomes overwhelming, it can be regarded as fact.

a1831 J. Bentham Fragments Universal Gram. in Wks. (1843) VIII. 350/1 In consequence of this modification, it required to be distinguished into two species,—1. The simply predictive future; 2. The dominative future.

1841 R. G. Latham Eng. Lang. (1850) 463 The predictive future.—I shall be there..means simply that the speaker will be present... The promissive future.—I will be there..means that he intends being so.

1911 Trans. & Proc. Amer. Philol. Assoc. 42 25 Since there is nothing either in word or construction to distinguish between the consentive, the predictive, and the directive uses of will, the logical intention is often left in doubt.

1954 M. A. Pei & F. Gaynor Dict. Linguistics 174 Predictive future, predictive tense, terms occasionally used to denote the future tense used to indicate what will happen.

2001 D. Winford in P. Christie Due Respect ix. 165 The use of two futures—one predictive future and the other prospective..—is found in all varieties of CEC [= Caribbean English Creole].

1982 Proc. IEEE Computer Soc. Conf. Computing Aid Handicapped 6/2 Better predictive power can be obtained by using a partial-string matching method.

1988 J. J. Darragh (title) Adaptive predictive text generation and the reactive keyboard.

1999 Canberra Times (Nexis) 7 June a15 Nokia's new 7110 also tackles the problems associated with turning 10 numerical keys into 26 letters of the alphabet by using predictive text.

2005 Northern Echo (Nexis) 1 Nov. 22 Predictive texting is fine if you are limited to 160 characters..but today's handsets are capable of so much more.

1988 Asahi News Service Newswire (Nexis) 19 May The computer-controlled camera uses a predictive autofocus system to adjust the focus on objects until the moment the shutter opens.

1993 Photo Answers Jan. 108/2 (advt.) Minolta 7000i Multi-program AF SLR, 4 exposure modes, widefield predictive focusing system, spot and multi-pattern metering.

2004 B. Hurter Best of Digital Wedding Photogr. 24 While the predictive autofocus tracked focus on the couple, Becker waited for the perfect moment.

1987 Network World 4 May 32/2 The predictive dialer calculates the time to wait before dialing a number. Live answers are then forwarded to an agent.

2004 B. B. Read Home Workplace 42 It does not work when a call is placed by someone using a business phone switch or a predictive dialer.

1987 Network World 4 May 32/2 The more sophisticated autodialing software does what is called ‘predictive dialing’.

1997 R. V. Friedenberg Communication Consultants Polit. Campaigns iv. 115 Non-computerized phone banks, using a 90–second script, will contact about 15 people an hour. Predictive dialing systems using the same script will reach 30–35 people an hour.

1966 Science 18 Feb. 872/3 The result will be a new type of doctor, the general physician, ‘an expert trained and motivated in predictive medicine, preventive medicine, health maintenance and a coordinator among the specialists’.

2004 Brit. Jrnl. Nutrition 92 s63 Before predictive medicine is in a position to contribute significantly to prevention or treatment of patients, an enormous amount of work has to be done to identify all genetic and environmental factors of relevance.

a1902 A. B. Davidson O.T. Prophecy (1903) xiii. 232 Wherein does their predictiveness consist?

1937 Sci. Monthly Sept. 219 (caption) This graph pictures the predictiveness of individuality traits as appraised in infancy and at the age of five years.

1995 G. V. Thomas in C. Hollin Contemp. Psychol. vii. 130 Rescorla's experiment shows that it is the predictiveness of one event from another..which determines whether or not they will be associated.

1928 B. S. Burks in G. M. Whipple Nature & Nurture x. 299 Pearson demonstrates that nearly the maximal predictivity, with respect to a criterion, of a large group of variables all showing considerable correlation among themselves is attained when only a few of such variables are used in a multiple correlation.

1966 Managem. Sci. 13 b45 Updating the file would..greatly enhance the predictivity of the Scheduler.

2005 Law & Health Weekly (Nexis) 5 Feb. 142 A study to assess the predictivity of the OGG1, XRCC1 and XRCC3 genotypes..for the induction of genotoxic effects.