Etymology

Noun

1. A forecast of the future course of a disease or disorder, based on medical knowledge.
   • 1861, John Neill, Francis Gurney Smith, An Analytical Compendium of the Various Branches of Medical Science, Blanchard and Lea, page 858,

     The prognosis is unfavourable when the child is very young, when the eruption appears before the third day, or when it suddenly disappears.

   • 1987, Constance S. Kirkpatrick, Nurses' Guide to Cancer Care, Rowman and Littlefield, ISBN 0847675009, page 132,

     Once the patient has worked through the stage of grieving at diagnosis, adjustment may be successful as therapy is begun and a prognosis is determined.

2. A forecast of the future course, or outcome, of a situation; a prediction.
   • 2008, Paul Fairfield, Why Democracy?, SUNY Press, ISBN 0791473155, page 123,

     If free speech is the lifeblood of democracy then the fate and the prognosis of the latter are that of the former.

   • 2000, Guy R. Woolley, J. J. J. M. Goumans, P. J. Wainwright, Waste Materials in Construction, Elsevier, ISBN 0080437907, page 19,

     The prognosis was made by taking into consideration the facts that the analog concrete had already achieved its ultimate strength by the period of 1500 days while concrete being predicted was to gain its strength limit by 1.25 time faster, that is by the period of 100 days.

Etymology