prompt

The adjective is from Middle English prompte, from Middle French prompt and its etymon Latin prōmptus (“visible, apparent, evident”), past participle of prōmō (“to take or bring out or forth, produce, bring to light”), from prō (“forth, forward”) + emō (“to take, acquire, buy”).^[1] Doublet of pronto.

The verb is from Middle English prompen, apparently from the adjective.^[2] The noun is from the verb.^[3]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɹɒmpt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɹɑmpt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒmpt

prompt (comparative more prompt, superlative most prompt)

1. Quick; acting without delay.

   Synonyms: hasty; see also Thesaurus:prompt

   He was very prompt at getting a new job.

   a prompt response

2. On time; punctual.

   Synonyms: timely; see also Thesaurus:punctual

   Be prompt for your appointment.

3. (archaic) Ready; willing to act.

   Synonyms: good to go, yare

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, Antony & Cleopatra, act 3, scene 8:

     Tell him, I am prompt / To lay my Crowne at's feete, and there to kneele.

4. (finance) Front: closest or nearest, in futures trading.
   • 2013 July 5, Davis W. Edwards, Energy Investing DeMystified: A Self-Teaching Guide, McGraw Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 19:

     When physical crude oil transactions are priced, they are usually marked to the prompt month futures contract. The prompt month futures contract is the next futures contract to settle.

   • 2021 May 11, Neil C. Schofield, Commodity Derivatives: Markets and Applications, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 448:

     The settlement ratio is determined as follows: i) If the prompt futures price of coal at maturity is less than or equal to the floor price, the ratio will be one.

prompt (plural prompts)

1. A reminder or cue.
   1. (writing) A suggestion for inspiration given to an author.
2. (business, dated) A time limit given for payment of an account for produce purchased, this limit varying with different goods.
   • 1848, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy: With Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC:

     To cover any probable difference of price which might arise before the expiration of the prompt, which for this article [tea] is three months.

3. (computing) A sequence of characters that is displayed to indicate that a computer is ready to receive input.

   I filled in my name where the prompt appeared on the computer screen but my account wasn't recognized.

4. (machine learning) Textual input given to a large language model or image model in order to have it generate a desired output.
   • 2022 April 15, Steven Johnson, Nikita Iziev, “A.I. Is Mastering Language. Should We Trust What It Says?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     For instance, using the “instruct” mode, I once gave GPT-3 the prompt: “Write an essay discussing the role of metafiction in the work of Italo Calvino.”

• prompt engineer
• prompt engineering
• prompt injection

prompt (third-person singular simple present prompts, present participle prompting, simple past and past participle prompted)

1. (transitive) To lead (someone) toward what they should say or do.

   Synonyms: counsel, exhort; see also Thesaurus:advise

   I prompted him to get a new job.

2. (transitive) To say (something) in order to help or encourage someone to speak.

   "How did you solve the issue then?" Jason prompted while staring at Lana.

   • 1988, Tad Williams, chapter 5, in The Dragonbone Chair, DAW Books, →ISBN:

     "What is your name, you?" he demanded. The captured youth tried to pull free again, but was obviously tiring. After a moment he stopped his struggling altogether. "Your name?" Simon prompted, this time in a softer tone.
     "Malachias." The youth turned away panting.

   • 2007 December, Margaret Mayo, Helen Brooks, Carole Mortimer, A Presents Christmas Bundle: An Anthology, Harlequin, page 51:

     ‘Be warned, Molly,’ Gideon added harshly. ‘I won't ever let you do or say anything that will hurt Crys. Is that understood?’ he prompted determinedly.

3. (transitive, theater and television) To show or tell (an actor/person) the words they should be saying, or actions they should be doing.

   If he forgets his words I will prompt him.

4. (transitive) To initiate; to cause or lead to.

   Synonyms: instigate, provoke; see also Thesaurus:incite

   • 1996, Tad Williams, chapter 7, in City of Golden Shadow, Legend Books, →ISBN:

     At first Renie's chain of thought had been prompted by the unsatisfactory nature of phone contact compared to an actual meeting, […]

   • 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     The only sour note on a virtually perfect night for England came from shameful 'monkey' chanting aimed at Ashley Cole and Ashley Young from a section of Bulgaria's fans which later prompted an official complaint from the Football Association to Uefa.

   • 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 27:

     On October 6, 1927, Warner Bros. released The Jazz Singer, the first sound-synched feature film, prompting a technological shift of unprecedented speed and unstoppable force. Within two years, nearly every studio release was a talkie.

5. (transitive, computing) To request (a user) to provide input or do something on a computer.

   The script prompted him to enter his credit account number.

6. (transitive, machine learning) To provide textual input in the form of ordinary language to (an artificial intelligence or language model) to have it generate a desired output.

   I want to prompt this new AI art generator to create an image of a panda riding a bike.

• prompter

• “prompt”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “prompt”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “prompt”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• IPA^(key): /prɔmpt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: prompt
• Rhymes: -ɔmpt

Borrowed from Middle French prompt, from Latin prōmptus.

prompt

1. immediately, promptly

   Synonym: meteen

   Hij betaalde prompt.

   He paid promptly.

prompt (not comparable)

1. quick, immediate

• pront

• pronto

Borrowed from English prompt, from Middle French prompt, from Latin prōmptus.

prompt m (plural prompts)

1. (computing) prompt

Learned borrowing from Latin promptus.

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ̃/, /pʁɔ̃t/, /pʁɔ̃pt/

• Audio:

  (file)

prompt (feminine prompte, masculine plural prompts, feminine plural promptes)

1. prompt, swift, quick

   Near-synonym: rapide

   prompt rétablissement ― get well soon

2. (Louisiana) curt

• promptitude

• “prompt”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From French prompt, from Latin prōmptus (“visible, apparent, evident”), past participle of prōmō (“to take or bring out or forth, produce, bring to light”), from prō (“forth, forward”) + emō (“to take, acquire, buy”).

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔmpt/

• Audio:

  (file)

prompt (strong nominative masculine singular prompter, comparative prompter, superlative am promptesten)

1. immediate, swift, expeditious, prompt

• “prompt” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “prompt” in Duden online

From Latin prōmptus, past participle of prōmō (“I take, bring out, produce, bring to light”).

prompt m

1. (Jersey) hasty

• promptément (“hastily”)

• prompte

From French prompt, from Latin promptus, from promere (“bring out”).

prompt

1. quickly and punctually; promptly

prompt (singular and plural prompt, comparative mer prompt, superlative mest prompt)

1. quick and punctual; prompt

• “prompt” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “prompt” in The Ordnett Dictionary

Borrowed from French prompt, from Latin promptus.

prompt m or n (feminine singular promptă, masculine plural prompți, feminine and neuter plural prompte)

1. prompt

prompt (not comparable)

1. promptly (immediately)

   Svaret kom prompt

   The answer came promptly

2. unconditionally, necessarily

   Om du prompt måste göra det så ta det försiktigt

   If you necessarily have to do it, be careful

prompt (not comparable)

1. (in some expressions) prompt (quick)

   prompt leverans

   prompt delivery

prompt c

1. (computing) a prompt
2. (machine learning) a prompt

• prompt in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• prompt in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• prompt in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)