Dictionary

proleptically en · ADV

Etymology

From proleptic + -ally or proleptical + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a proleptic manner; anticipatorily.
   • 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. 1925, John Dewey. Experience and Nature In The Later Works of John Dewey, Vol. 1, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale (IL), p. 150
   • Fullerton, in real life apparently a magnetic, equal opportunity Lothario[…]is written here[…] as more of a puppy than a hound, making campy references to Wharton by her childhood name, Pussy Jones, and proleptically quoting Mae West. 2021 July 28, Jesse Green, “Onstage, the Pen Is Usually Duller Than the Sword”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • The ultimacy of God's eschatological revelation impinges proleptically on . . . and, then, it all gets over my head. 2001, Mark Allan Powell, Chasing the Eastern Star, page 18:

Forms