Prospective

Look up prospective in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Prospective literally means "under observation". 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. A prospective cohort study is a type of study, e.g., in sociology or medicine, that follows participants for a particular future time period.

It may also refer to the following:

• Prospective aspect, a grammatical aspect
• 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 study events that already have taken place.