the.com/indicator
A proxy pretending to be the truth, usually with better PR than the truth.
means A sign, measurement, or reading that points to the state of something you can't directly see or measure yourself.
from From Latin 'indicare' (to point out, show), built from 'in-' (toward) plus 'dicare' (to proclaim, make known) — a relative of 'dictate' and 'dedicate.' It entered English in the 1500s-1600s for things that literally point or signal, long before it picked up its modern life in gauges, economics, and chemistry, where a tiny visible change (a needle, a color shift) stands in for a larger invisible truth.
- economics use
- GDP is an indicator, not a measure of wellbeing
- chemistry use
- litmus turns color before it tells the real pH
- trading use
- most technical indicators lag the price they predict
- root word
- from Latin indicare, meaning to point out