prolepsis

Meaning

Noun

• 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.

Related

Similar words

• anachronism, flashforward, foreshadowing
• procatalepsis
• left dislocation

Opposite words

• syllepsis

Origin

• From Latin prolepsis, from Ancient Greek πρόληψις ("preconception, anticipation"), from προλαμβάνω.