an unusually gifted or intelligent (young) person; someone whose talents excite wonder and admiration
<noun.person> she is a chess prodigy
a sign of something about to happen
<noun.event> he looked for an omen before going into battle
an impressive or wonderful example of a particular quality
<noun.cognition> the Marines are expected to perform prodigies of valor
Prodigy \Prod"i*gy\, n.; pl. {Prodigies}. [ L. prodigium; pro before + (perh.) a word appearing in adagium adage: cf. F. prodige. Cf. {Adage}. ] 1. Something extraordinary, or out of the usual course of nature, from which omens are drawn; a portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies.
So many terrors, voices, prodigies, May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign. --Milton.
2. Anything so extraordinary as to excite wonder or astonishment; a marvel; as, a prodigy of learning.
3. A production out of ordinary course of nature; an abnormal development; a monster. --B. Jonson.
Syn: Wonder; miracle; portent; marvel; monster.
Here is an alphabetical list of 20 top movies of the '80s as compiled by the editors of The Associated Press: "AMADEUS" _ A stunning, gorgeous-looking requiem for a child prodigy, directed with style and ferocity by Milos Forman.
Next week in Denver his latest prodigy, young Miss Zmeskal, will be among the favorites in the 1990 U.S. championships.
A show of brush-and-ink paintings by Wang Yani, a 14-year-old Chinese prodigy, opens Sunday at Washington's Sackler Gallery, and spokeswoman Susan Bliss said, "We expect that the public will be very interested and will be coming."
"I've sort of always been interested in prodigies," Bochco told a meeting of the Television Critics Association. "My dad was a prodigy.
He was an infant prodigy who was making sweet music with his golf clubs at an extraordinarily early age.
Not exactly 'mature beyond his years' as a performing artist - he never attempted the sharp dramatic thrusts that lit up Schwarzkopf's and Dieskau's interpretations; but a prodigy, beyond argument, of fluid musico-technical perfection.
Doogie is a prodigy who graduated from Princeton at the age of 10, from medical school at 14, and now, at 16, is a hospital resident.
New York legally prohibited a child prodigy who graduated from a Florida law school at age 16 from taking the bar exam and practicing law in the state until he is 21, a federal judge has ruled.
Wang Yani, a 14-year-old prodigy who has made 10,000 brush-and-ink paintings since she was 3 years old, was the undisputed star at the preview of her exhibition of 69 colorful pictures.
Tamlyn Tomita (of Come See The Paradise) is the childhood chess prodigy who grows up to be outflanked by life and love.