prospects

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of prospect.

   The coach reviewed several promising prospects before the draft.

   Investors weighed the long-term prospects of the struggling airline.

   Note

   One noun plural holds two kinds of thing. It can mean views and scenes, or the lookouts that command them. It can also mean the things that may come to pass, usually hoped-for ones, as in job prospects or an airline's long-term prospects. The same letters also spell the verb form (she prospects for gold). An article or adjective in front marks the noun: the prospects, bright prospects.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of prospect.

   He prospects the remote hills hoping to find a silver vein.

   Each quarter the sales lead prospects fresh accounts across the region.

   Note

   The miner's verb in its he-and-she form, and it works in two patterns. Without an object it takes for and the thing sought: she prospects for gold. With an object it names the ground being tested, as in he prospects the hills, meaning he finds out which minerals they hold. Unlike the noun plural, it never follows an article.

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