illustration Prolepsis

Prolepsis

[pro-LEP-sis]

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Ancient Greek, 15th century

1.

The anticipation and answering of possible objections in rhetorical speech.

2.

The representation of a thing as existing before it actually does or did so, as in, “He was a dead man when he entered.”

Examples of Prolepsis in a sentence

"Tyrell expected objections, so he tried to include answers to possible questions in a prolepsis of his proposal to the HOA."

"The new biography of Charlie Chaplin begins with his birth, then in a prolepsis, jumps to the height of his fame."

illustration Prolepsis

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