prolepsis en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /pɹoʊˈlɛpsɪs/
Etymology
From Latin prolepsis, from Ancient Greek πρόληψις (prólēpsis, “preconception, anticipation”), from προλαμβάνω (prolambánō, “take beforehand, anticipate”).
Meanings
- (countable, rhetoric, uncountable) The assignment of something to a period of time that precedes it.
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(countable, rhetoric, uncountable) The anticipation of an objection to an argument.
Prolepsis makes objections; then replies; And wisely thus anticipates surprise.
1835, L[arret] Langley, “[Rhetorical Figures.] Prolepsis.”, in A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster, South Yorkshire: […] C. White, […], →OCLC, page 59:
- (countable, rhetoric, uncountable) A construction that consists of placing an element in a syntactic unit before that to which it would logically correspond.
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(countable, uncountable) A so-called "preconception", i.e., a pre-theoretical notion which can lead to true knowledge of the world.
Point (1) seems to imply that one may have a false judgement because of a mismatch between different criteria for truth. For example, my sensation is paired with a prolepsis of a horse, therefore I make an assertion that ‘there is a horse’, which upon further inspection may turn out to be a cow.
2017, Attila Németh, Epicurus on the Self, page 42:
- (countable, uncountable) 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.
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(countable, uncountable) The practice of placing information about the ending of a story near the beginning, as a literary device.
[…] [Edmund] Plovvden being of the Romiſh perſvvaſion, ſome Setters trapanned him (pardon the prolepſis) to hear Maſſe: But aftervvards Plovvden underſtanding, that the pretender to Officiate vvas no Prieſt, but a meer Lay-man (on deſigne to make a diſcovering) Oh! The caſe is altered quoth Plovvden: No Priest, no Maſſe.
a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Shrop-shire”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 3:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| prolepses | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
Relateds
Synonyms
anachronism · flashforward · prebuttal (anticipation of objection to an argument) · foreshadowing · procatalepsis (anticipation of objection to an argument) · left dislocation · cataphora
Translations (12)
de Prolepse (grammatical construction) · es prolepsis (grammatical construction) · tl pangunguna (grammatical construction) · ga réamhthagra (philosophical concept) · ca prolepsi (grammatical construction) · fr prolepse (grammatical construction) · ga réamhthagra (grammatical construction) · fr prolepse ((rhetoric) the anticipation of an objection to an argument) · el πρόληψη ((rhetoric) the anticipation of an objection to an argument) · el πρόληψη (grammatical construction) · de Prolepsis (grammatical construction) · ga réamhthagra ((rhetoric) the anticipation of an objection to an argument)