Prompting

How to spell prompting

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce prompting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does prompting mean?

1. nounThe act of encouraging, reminding, or causing someone to do or say something.
2. verbCausing or encouraging something to happen, or supplying someone with words or cues.

Prompting in a sentence

• noun

  She recited the whole poem without any prompting from her teacher.

• verb

  The falling sales figures were prompting a full review of the strategy.

• noun

  A little gentle prompting from his colleagues got him to finish the report.

• verb

  The system kept prompting users to update their passwords.

Where does prompting come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows from the verb prompt, which English took in the late 1300s from the Latin promptus, meaning 'ready', 'visible', or 'brought to light'. That past participle came from the verb promere, 'to bring forth' or 'to produce', built from pro- (forward) and emere (originally 'to take', the same root that lies under English words like exempt and redeem). The early sense in English was of urging an actor or speaker forward by supplying the next words, which is why a theatre helper feeding lines is still a prompter. From that theatrical and persuasive use the broader meaning of nudging someone into action developed, and the -ing form names the act itself. The spelling keeps both the p and the t of the Latin stem, so the cluster 'mpt' is the part to watch when writing it.

How the word is built

• prompt (from Latin promptus: ready, brought forth)
• -ing (verbal noun / present participle suffix)