prompt

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”).

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

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɹɑmpt/
• Rhymes: -ɒmpt

prompt (comparative more prompt, superlative most prompt)

1. Quick; acting without delay.

   He was very prompt at getting a new job.

   a prompt response

2. On time; punctual.

   Be prompt for your appointment.

3. (archaic) Ready; willing to act.
   • 1623, Shakespeare, William, 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.

• (acting without delay): hasty; see also Thesaurus:prompt
• (on time): timely; see also Thesaurus:punctual
• (willing to act): good to go, yare

• prompt critical
• prompt criticality
• promptness
• prompt neutron
• promptly

prompt (plural prompts)

1. A reminder or cue.
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 948263597:

     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. (writing) A suggestion for inspiration given to an author.
5. (machine learning) Textual input given to a large language 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, ISSN 0362-4331:

     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 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.

   I prompted him to get a new job.

2. (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.

3. (transitive) To initiate; to cause or lead to.
   • 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC‎:

     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.

• See also Thesaurus:advise

• prompter

• prompt in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• prompt in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• prompt at OneLook Dictionary Search

• IPA^(key): /prɔmpt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: prompt
• Rhymes: -ɔmpt

Borrowed from Middle French prompt, from Latin prōmptus.

prompt

1. immediately, promptly

   Hij betaalde prompt.

   He paid promptly.

   Synonym: meteen

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

Inherited from Latin promptus.

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

• Audio

  (file)

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

1. prompt, swift, quick
2. (Louisiana) curt

• prompt rétablissement

• “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

From French prompt, from Latin promptus.

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

1. prompt