When we call something prophetic, we mean it said what would happen later — and then it really did. A warning, a joke, a dream, a line in a book, or a person speaking can all be prophetic. You hear it most after the fact: her words proved prophetic means people were not sure then, but later they saw she was right. Though actually, people stretch it. A film can be called prophetic if it only half-guessed a future that later looks a bit like ours. Newspapers love that looser use; it is a judging word, not a science word. The older church sense is still alive too: prophetic can mean of a prophet, the kind of speech that claims to speak for God. In everyday English, though, the it-came-true sense is the one you will meet most. The word is a little formal and a little dramatic. Friends do not usually spend it on the weather.