Dictionary

self-fulfilling prophecy en · NOUN

Etymology

Coined by sociologist Robert K. Merton.

Meanings

1. A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true.
   • Whether or not we believe in astrology is irrelevant; the question is, did the Magdalenians? If so, then in a self-fulfilling prophecy they may have been organizing their lives according to a religious belief system, and not simply an economic or ecological one. 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 130:
   • Operator Abellio ScotRail doubled the Mon-Sat service from one train in each direction to two from May 2019 - it being something of a self-fulfilling prophecy that if you lay on trains, people might use them. 2022 January 26, Stephen Roberts, “Top of the stops: our least used stations”, in RAIL, number 949, page 56:

Forms

Coordinates

self-defeating prophecy

Relateds

Pygmalion effect · fake it till one makes it · nominative determinism

Translations (13)

pl samospełniająca się przepowiednia (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · fr prophétie autoréalisatrice (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · hu önbeteljesítő jóslat (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · ko 자기 충족적 예언 (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · es profecía autocumplida (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · cmn 自證預言 /自证预言 (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · mk самоисполнително пророштво (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · is virk spá (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · fi itseään toteuttava ennuste (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · fi itsensä toteuttava ennuste (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · de selbsterfüllende Prophezeiung (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · sv självuppfyllande profetia (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true) · vi lời tiên tri tự hoàn thành (A prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true)