clairvoyant
/ˌkleəˈvɔɪ.ənt/ (bre, ipa) · /ˌklerˈvɔɪ.ənt/ (ame, ipa) · /kler-ˈvȯi-ənt/ (ame, mw) · /kleəˈvɔɪənt/ (bre, ipa) · /klerˈvɔɪənt/ (ame, ipa)
clairvoyant — noun
- clairvoyantsingular
- clairvoyantsplural
1. someone who says they can know things about the future or about hidden events by
someone who says they can know things about the future or about hidden events by using a special mental power, rather than by ordinary thinking or seeing.
Talia paid a clairvoyant fifty pounds to read her future from a deck of cards.
pattern: pay a clairvoyant + to-infinitive
After her husband disappeared, Reema began visiting a clairvoyant every Sunday afternoon.
collocation: visit a clairvoyant
The police refused to take the clairvoyant seriously when she claimed to know where the boy was.
Christopher does not believe any clairvoyant can really speak to the dead.
A famous clairvoyant told Nikos that he would meet his future wife within a year.
- psychic
most common everyday term; covers the same kind of practitioner without sounding old-fashioned.
- fortune-teller
more casual; focuses on predicting personal future, often with cards or palms.
- seer
literary or archaic; suggests a respected visionary rather than a paid service.
- medium
narrower — specifically someone who claims to speak with the dead.
- skeptic
someone who refuses to believe in such powers.
文法句型
a clairvoyant
consult a clairvoyant
用法筆記
Often paired with verbs of consulting (visit, see, consult, hire) and with hedging language (claims to, says she can) because writers usually want to stay neutral about whether the powers are real.
常見錯誤
clairvoyant — adjective
- clairvoyantpositive
- more clairvoyantcomparative
- most clairvoyantsuperlative
1. able to know about future events or about things happening far away, supposedly
able to know about future events or about things happening far away, supposedly through a mental power that goes beyond what the ordinary senses can pick up.
Zola insisted she had clairvoyant powers and could feel when relatives were in danger.
collocation: clairvoyant powers
Darius claimed to have had a clairvoyant dream the night before the earthquake struck Lima.
collocation: a clairvoyant dream / vision
Eve laughed and told her sister she was not clairvoyant, so just say the news.
The novel describes an old woman with clairvoyant abilities who warns the village before each storm.
Allison felt a strange clairvoyant flash and knew her father had reached the airport safely.
- psychic
more common; same idea, less literary tone.
- telepathic
narrower — specifically about reading or sending thoughts.
- prophetic
implies a serious vision of the future, often with a moral or religious weight.
- second-sighted
Scottish-English variant; old-fashioned, suggests an inborn gift.
- rational
emphasizes ordinary thinking instead of mystical insight.
文法句型
clairvoyant powers
clairvoyant ability
be clairvoyant
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense-related adjectives like 'telepathic' (mind-to-mind) and 'prophetic' (specifically about the future, often religious). Often premodifies abstract nouns: powers, vision, ability, dream, flash, insight.