Meaning of prolepsis | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The assignment of something to a period of time that precedes it.
   countable, rhetoric, uncountable
2. The anticipation of an objection to an argument.
   countable, rhetoric, uncountable
3. A construction that consists of placing an element in a syntactic unit before that to which it would logically correspond.
   countable, rhetoric, uncountable
4. A so-called "preconception", i.e., a pre-theoretical notion which can lead to true knowledge of the world.
   countable, uncountable
5. 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.
   countable, uncountable
6. The practice of placing information about the ending of a story near the beginning, as a literary device.
   countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Prolepsis makes objections; then replies; And wisely thus anticipates surprise.”

“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.”

“[…] [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.”

CEFR level