prompts

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of prompt.

   The workshop handed out a dozen prompts to get the discussion started.

   Her notebook was full of prompts she had collected over the years.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs. The same word is also the verb form, as in "the software prompts users", so the surrounding grammar tells you which is meant. As a plural noun it covers every countable sense of prompt: lines fed to an actor who has forgotten the script, writing prompts handed to authors, and text typed into a language model. The adjective meaning "quick" never takes this -s.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of prompt.

   The software prompts users for a password each time they log in.

   A sudden drop in sales prompts the manager to rethink the strategy.

   Note

   Every sense of the verb needs an object, so prompts always points at someone or something. It prompts users for a password, prompts a manager to act, or simply prompts an inquiry, where it means "causes". In the theater it prompts an actor with a forgotten line, and in computing it prompts a model with ordinary-language text. When the word names the cues themselves, it is the plural noun instead.

   The leaked report prompts an inquiry into the department.

   From the wings, the stage manager prompts the actor whenever he stalls.

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