Prospective

Look up prospective in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Prospective literally means "looking forward". It can also refer to an event that is likely or expected to happen in the future. For example, a prospective student is someone who is considering attending a school — typically a high school student who is seriously considering applying to a university, or who has already applied and been accepted, but not yet enrolled.

It may also refer to:

• Prospective aspect, a grammatical aspect
• Prospective cohort study, a type of medical study
• Prospective Dolly (born 1987), Thoroughbred racehorse
• Prospective memory, remembering to perform an intended action
• Prospective parliamentary candidate, a term used in British politics
• Prospective Piloted Transport System, a project to develop a new-generation manned spacecraft
• Prospective search, a method of searching on the Internet
• Prospective short circuit current, the highest electric current which can exist in a particular electrical system under short circuit conditions
• Prospective payment system, a payment model used in health care to control costs

See also

• Retrospective, generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle