Prompt

How to spell prompt

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce prompt

What does prompt mean?

1. adjectiveDone or acting quickly and without delay.
2. verbTo cause someone to do something, or to assist a speaker by supplying forgotten words.
3. nounA reminder or cue, including the on-screen symbol where a computer awaits typed input.

Prompt in a sentence

• adjective

  A prompt reply to the complaint kept the customer happy.

• verb

  Falling sales should prompt a review of the marketing budget.

• noun

  The writing class began with a one-line prompt to spark ideas.

• adjective

  The company is known for prompt delivery within two days.

• verb

  The stage manager will prompt any actor who forgets a line.

• noun

  Type the command after the blinking prompt on the screen.

Where does prompt come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin promptus, the past participle of the verb promere, which meant 'to bring out' or 'to bring forth'. That verb was built from pro-, meaning 'forth', and emere, meaning 'to take' (the same root that gives us 'exempt' and 'redeem'). Something promptus was literally 'brought out and ready to hand', so the adjective came to mean 'quick, ready, without delay'. English adopted it in the late 1300s, at first describing a person who was prepared or ready to act, and the sense of acting speedily followed naturally. The hidden 'p' before the 't', a silent leftover of the Latin cluster, is the main spelling snag, since the word is pronounced as if it ended simply in '-mt'.

How the word is built

• pro- (forth)
• -mpt (from Latin promere/promptus: brought out, made ready)