prolepsis

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prolepsis (plural ‐epses), the Greek word for ‘anticipation’, used in three senses:

(i) in a speech, the trick of answering an opponent's objections before they are even made;

(ii) as a figure of speech, the application of an epithet or description before it actually becomes applicable, e.g. the wounded Hamlet's exclamation ‘I am dead, Horatio’;

(iii) in narrative works, a ‘flashforward’ by which a future event is related as an interruption to the ‘present’ time of the narration, as in this passage from Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) about the school‐girl Mary:

‘… Speech is silver but silence is golden. Mary, are you listening? What was I saying?’ Mary Macgregor, lumpy, with merely two eyes, a nose and a mouth like a snowman, who was later famous for being stupid and always to blame and who, at the age of twenty‐three, lost her life in a hotel fire, ventured, ‘Golden.’

In this third sense, prolepsis is an anachrony which is the opposite of ‘flashback’ or analepsis.

Adjective proleptic.

prolēpsis (‘anticipation’), figure of speech in which a person or thing is referred to by name or epithet which will be later, but is not yet, appropriate; e.g. submersas obrue puppes, ‘overwhelm the sunken ships’. The word is also used to describe, in a speech, the forestalling of objections that an opponent may raise.

anticipation: as
a) the representation or assumption of a future act or development as if presently existing or accomplished
b) the application of an adjective to a noun in anticipation of the result of the action of the verb  (as in: while yon slow oxen turn the furrowed plain)

The application of an adjective to a noun in anticipation of the action of the verb.

Recurrence of a paroxysm before the expected time.

For a list of words related to prolepsis, see:

• Rhetoric and Figures of Speech - prolepsis: anticipation and response to opponent’s argument before it is actually stated

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See words rhyming with "prolepsis."

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - foregribelse

Nederlands (Dutch)
verzakking (medisch)

Français (French)
n. - anticipation, mot décrivant et anticipant sur (une situation à venir)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Vorausbeantwortung, Vorwegnahme

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πρόληψη, πρόβλεψη, (γραμμ.) πρόληψη, προκατάληψη, αντιλογία

Italiano (Italian)
prolessi

Português (Portuguese)
n. - prolepse (f)

Русский (Russian)
предвосхищение

Español (Spanish)
n. - prolepsis

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - antecipation, föregripande

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
预期, 预辩法, 预料

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 預期, 預辯法, 預料

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 예기, 예상

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 予期, 予弁法, 予期的賓辞法

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) التوقع, توقع الاعتراضات للإجابه عنها, الخطأ التسبيقي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮צפייה מראש של התנגדויות ומתן תשובה להן בשפה נמלצת, תיאור העתיד, ראיית הנולד, הצגת דבר עתידי כקיים‬

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