“In the future, it will help to learn the definition of prolepsis.”
Prolepsis
Definition (noun):
1) The anticipation or portrayal of an event before its actual occurrence. “Dead man walking is an example of prolepsis because the man isn’t dead yet.” “Another example of prolepsis is when Hamlet says, ‘I am dead, Horatio.'” “Yet another example of prolepsis is the adjective “hot” in hot water heater and so is the phrase ‘done deal.'”
2) A flash-forward that shows rather than hints at what is to come. “The use of prolepsis is prominent in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens because it shows the protagonist a vision of his horrific future if he does not change his Scrooge-like ways.” “Prolepsis also occurs in Oedipus Rex when Oedipus is told by the Oracle that he will sleep with his mother and kill his father.”
3) A rhetorical device to anticipate objections to an argument. Also known as a prebuttal. “The businessman expected objections, so he tried to include answers to all possible questions in a prolepsis of his proposal.”
Pronunciation: proh-lep-seez
Proleptic
Definition (adjective): “The Terminator contains proleptic scenes of future nuclear devastation that Sarah Conner envisions.”
Pronunciation: proh-lep-tic
About the Word:
From the Latin prolepsis, from Greek prolēpsis meaning “an anticipating” etymologically “a taking beforehand.”