prolepsis.
The assignment of something to a period of time that precedes it.
Meaning & usage
The assignment of something to a period of time that precedes it.
The anticipation of an objection to an argument.
A construction that consists of placing an element in a syntactic unit before that to which it would logically correspond.
A so-called "preconception", i.e., a pre-theoretical notion which can lead to true knowledge of the world.
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.
The practice of placing information about the ending of a story near the beginning, as a literary device.
Where this word comes from
From Latin prolepsis, from Ancient Greek πρόληψις (prólēpsis, “preconception, anticipation”), from προλαμβάνω (prolambánō, “take beforehand, anticipate”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.