Word.ws English Dictionary

procatalepsis

/ˌpɹəʊkætəˈlɛpsɪs/

procatalepsis noun: a rhetorical exercise in which the speaker raises an objection to his own argument and then immediately answers it, in an attempt to strengthen the argument by dealing with possible counter-arguments.

Noun

procatalepsis

  1. (rhetoric) A rhetorical exercise in which the speaker raises an objection to his own argument and then immediately answers it, in an attempt to strengthen the argument by dealing with possible counter-arguments.
  2. (rhetoric) Rebuttal of anticipated objections.
    • This long sequence skilfully deploys the rhetorical tropes of procatalepsis and concessio, pre-emption and concession: that is, they concede the accuracy of certain classic attacks on communism, but in ways that redound on their opponents.2022, China Miéville, chapter 3, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC
  3. Left dislocation.

Synonyms of procatalepsis

Origin of procatalepsis

From Latin procatalepsis (“anticipating and answering an objection”), from Ancient Greek προκατάληψις (prokatálēpsis, “seizing in advance”).

Questions about procatalepsis

What does procatalepsis mean?
Procatalepsis means a rhetorical exercise in which the speaker raises an objection to his own argument and then immediately answers it, in an attempt to strengthen the argument by dealing with possible counter-arguments.
What part of speech is procatalepsis?
Procatalepsis is a noun.
How do you pronounce procatalepsis?
Procatalepsis is pronounced /ˌpɹəʊkætəˈlɛpsɪs/.

Words near procatalepsis in the dictionary

  1. procaryotic
  2. procasino
  3. procaspase
  4. procaspases
  5. procatabolic
  6. procatalepsis
  7. procataleptic
  8. procatarctic
  9. procatarctics
  10. procatarxis
  11. procaterol

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: procatalepsis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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