prospect

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prospect/ˈprɒspekt/

▶noun

• 1 the possibility or likelihood of some future event occurring.

  ■ a mental picture of a future or anticipated event.

  ■ (prospects) chances or opportunities for success.

• 2 a person regarded as a potential customer or as likely to be successful.

• 3 an extensive view of landscape.

• 4 a place likely to yield mineral deposits.

▶verb search for mineral deposits, especially by means of drilling and excavation.

– derivatives
prospectless adjective,
prospector noun.

– origin ME: from L. prospectus ‘view’, from prospicere ‘look forward’.