prolepsis

Noun

prolepsis (countable and uncountable, plural prolepses)

1. (rhetoric) The assignment of something to a period of time that precedes it.
2. (rhetoric) The anticipation of an objection to an argument.
   • Prolepsis makes objections; then replies;
     And wisely thus anticipates surprise.1835, L[arret] Langley, “[Rhetorical Figures.] Prolepsis.”, in A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster, South Yorkshire: […] C. White, […], →OCLC, page 59

   Synonyms:

   procatalepsis, prebuttal

3. (rhetoric) A construction that consists of placing an element in a syntactic unit before that to which it would logically correspond.
4. A so-called "preconception", i.e., a pre-theoretical notion which can lead to true knowledge of the world.
   • Point (1) seems to imply that one may have a false judgement because of a mismatch between different criteria for truth. For example, my sensation is paired with a prolepsis of a horse, therefore I make an assertion that ‘there is a horse’, which upon further inspection may turn out to be a cow.2017, Attila Németh, Epicurus on the Self, page 42
5. 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.
6. The practice of placing information about the ending of a story near the beginning, as a literary device.
   • […] [Edmund] Plovvden being of the Romiſh perſvvaſion, ſome Setters trapanned him (pardon the prolepſis) to hear Maſſe: But aftervvards Plovvden underſtanding, that the pretender to Officiate vvas no Prieſt, but a meer Lay-man (on deſigne to make a diſcovering) Oh! The caſe is altered quoth...a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Shrop-shire”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC...