Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Prolepsis
‖
Pro-lep′sis
,Noun.
[L., fr. Gr. [GREEK], from [GREEK] to take beforehand; [GREEK] before + [GREEK] to take.]
1.
(Rhet.)
(a)
A figure by which objections are anticipated or prevented.
Abp. Bramhall.
(b)
A necessary truth or assumption; a first or assumed principle.
2.
(Chron.)
An error in chronology, consisting in an event being dated before the actual time.
3.
(Gram.)
The application of an adjective to a noun in anticipation, or to denote the result, of the action of the verb;
as, to strike one
. dumb
Webster 1828 Edition
Prolepsis
PROLEP'SIS
Definition 2024
prolepsis
prolepsis
English
Noun
prolepsis (plural prolepses)
| Examples (rhetoric) |
|---|
|
Dead man walking. (He's not dead yet.) |
| Examples (grammar, rhetoric) |
|---|
|
That noise, I just heard it again. |
- (rhetoric) The assignment of something to a period of time that precedes it.
- (logic) The anticipation of an objection to an argument.
- (grammar, rhetoric) A construction that consists of placing an element in a syntactic unit before that to which it would logically correspond.
- (philosophy, epistemology) A so-called "preconception", i.e. a pre-theoretical notion which can lead to true knowledge of the world. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (botany) Growth in which lateral branches develop from a lateral meristem, after the formation of a bud or following a period of dormancy, when the lateral meristem is split from a terminal meristem.
Synonyms
- (representation of something that has occurred before its time): anachronism, flashforward, foreshadowing
- (anticipation of objection to an argument): procatalepsis
- (grammar, rhetoric): left dislocation
Antonyms
- (botany): syllepsis
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
assignment
representation
grammatical construction
philosophical concept