prospective

prospective — adjective

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

1.形容詞B2
釋義

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.

例句

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

同義詞
  • 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

反義詞
  • current

    present or existing now, rather than expected in the future

  • past

    already happened; the opposite of looking forward

文法句型

prospective + noun

用法筆記

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.

常見錯誤

❌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).