Meanings:

1. We say that an event is predictable when we have enough information to know how the event will end up, what will happen or what will be done; predictable is a term which is used to define an event, a game, an action of which it is possible to predict the result (say in advance¹)
   
    
2. A thing or a future action, announced by a fortune teller (not based on sure data)
    

Examples:

• A game is defined predictable when it is possible to predict who is going to win (meaning 1).

• The puzzle² game is predictable because you already know the picture you are going to obtain at the and; it  has a sure solution; if I can't finish it it is either because I am not able or because I lost some of its pieces (meaning 1).

• "Today I have to go to a guitar lesson". This phrase is predictable because I know that I am surely going to go  (meaning 1).

• A solitaire is a predictable game because if there is a winner, it is surely you (meaning 1).
• Memory is a predictable game because bye uncovering the couples you can understand where the others are (meaning 1).

• “Counting rhyme”: the result is predictable if you are skilled in computations or if the rhythm is kept unchanged (meaning 1).

• sport (individual and team sports): they are not always predictable, especially if the teams are both good, because you cannot know the tactics used by the opponents, it counts also motivation, and luck. If they are fixed, then they are predictable (meaning 1).

• Parlour games, shangai, chess, checkers are partly predictable: what counts are skills, but also luck in case both the opponents are good (meaning 1).

• Tombola³, "game of the goose" are not predictable because it counts only luck with extractions (meaning 1).

• If there are many labelled jam jars (apricot, peach and strawberry), you can predict what there is inside each jam jar (meaning 1).

• A fortune teller can predict people's future (meaning 2).

• Events can be predictable for someone and unpredictable for others, it depends on the information they have; for prehistoric man, eclipses were not predictable (meaning 1).
   
  

Synonyms and contraries:

• Contrary (meaning 1): not predictable, not foreseeable, unexpected, unpredictable, random casual [10  - 4]⁴

• Synonyms (meaning 1): foreseeable (both imply that one knows in advance an event or an action that will occur in the future),  to sense, say in advance.

 

Related encyclopaedia items:
 

• not predictable, randomly -by chance
   

Curiosities / Anecdotes / Miscellanea / History:
 

• Events can be predictable for someone and unpredictable for others, it depends on the information they have; for prehistoric man, eclipses were not predictable (meaning 1).

• Predictable is an adjective (meaning 1).

• One day, in class, Maurizio, asked Teo to close his eyes and throw a rubber in the air...before throwing it, Teo said that the throw was going to be random, but while he was throwing he realized where about in the classroom the rubber was going to fall. He believed that the throw was not predictable, instead it was, because he knew the structure of the room and the movement of his hand (meaning 1).

About this document

This document has been firstly produced by Class2A as a collective class work, it may then evolve thanks to the contribute of Class2A, of its pupils, and of other pupils involved in the project. The evolution of this document may happen either directly in English or in Italian with relative translation. 
 

Translation notes

The first version of this document was produced in Italian by Classe2A, then translated by Michele. The pupils of Classe2A knew the document was to be translated.
 

1. The Italian "dire prima" used by pupils, comes from splitting "predire" (en: "to predict") into "pre" (en: "before", or "in advance") and "dire" (en: "to say").
    
2. The Italian word "puzzle" stands only for the puzzle game where you have to recompose a picture starting from its pieces.
    
3. The Italian  "Tombola" is a bingo alike game that is usually played during Xmas holidays as a traditional family game.
4. Pupils did not reach a complete agreement on the issues of if "random" can be considered as a contrary of "predictable"; as a consequence they voted, 10 of them said it was ok, and 4 of them said it was not.