Prophetic means turning out to have foretold what happened. Prophetic words, eerily prophetic, a prophetic warning.
It is nearly always said afterwards, since nothing is prophetic until the event arrives to make it so. The religious sense is the older one and describes the writings and role of a prophet rather than a lucky guess.
1adjectivepropheticTurning out to have foretold what happened.
“His warning about the bank's collapse turned out to be prophetic.”
prophetic is a quality.
Greek prophetikos comes from prophetes, one who speaks for a god.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰeh₂-
Ancient Greek
προφητικός
Latin
prophēticus
Middle French
prophétique
English, today
prophetic
Borrowed from Middle French prophétique, from Latin prophēticus, from Ancient Greek προφητικός, equivalent to prophet + ic.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA