English

Adjective

proleptic ‎(comparative more proleptic, superlative most proleptic)

1. Of a calendar, extrapolated to dates prior to its first adoption; of those used to adjust to or from the Julian calendar or Gregorian calendar.
2. Of an event, assigned a date that is too early.
3. (rhetoric) Anticipating and answering objections before they have been raised; procataleptic.

Synonyms

• (Anticipating and answering objections): anticipatory

Quotations

• 1925, John Dewey. Experience and Nature In The Later Works of John Dewey, Vol. 1, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale (IL), p. 150:

  When we name an event, calling it fire, we speak proleptically; we do not name an immediate event; that is impossible. We employ a term of discourse; we invoke a meaning, namely, the potential consequence of the existence.

• 1989, W. Paul Jones. Theological Worlds Abingdon Press, Nashville, p. 151:

  In World Two, Jesus can be seen as the proleptic event, giving promise of God's vindication of creation in and through history.

Derived terms

• proleptically

Translations