Word.ws English Dictionary

prologue

/ˈpɹəʊlɒɡ/US/ˈpɹoʊlɔɡ/

prologue noun: a speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel.

Noun

prologue (plural prologues)

  1. (rhetoric) A speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel.
    • “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what […] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just...1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London...
  2. One who delivers a prologue.
    • And hither am I come, / A Prologue arm’d, but not in confidence / Of Authors pen, or Actors voyce;c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida. The Prologue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  3. A component of a computer program that prepares the computer to execute a routine.
  4. An individual time trial before a stage race, used to determine which rider wears the leader's jersey on the first stage.
  5. (Eastern Orthodoxy) A liturgical book containing daily readings, including hagiography.

Verb

prologue (third-person singular simple present prologues, present participle prologuing, simple past and past participle prologued)

  1. (rhetoric) To introduce with a formal preface, or prologue.
    • […]harbindgers preceading ſtill the fates
      and prologue to the Omen comming on[…]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604...

prologue meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

prologue in Hindi

speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel
प्रस्तावना prastāvnā

prologue in Tamil

முகவுரை, முன்னுரை, பாயிரம், நூலின்

prologue in Urdu

prologue
پرستاو prastāv

prologue in Bengali

speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel
প্রাক্ কথন prāk kathana
More languagesFewer languages
prologue in Telugu
పూర్వరంగము pūrvaraṅgamu
prologue in Malayalam
പ്രസ്താവന, അവതാരിക, ആമുഖം പറയുന്ന ആൾ, നാന്ദി
prologue in Kannada
ತೊಡಗಿಕೆ, ಮುನ್ಮಾತು, ನಾಂದಿ, ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾವನೆ
prologue in Odia
ପ୍ରୋଲୋଗୁଇଂ
prologue in Nepali
प्रोलगिङ, प्रोलोग गर्न

Synonyms of prologue

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of prologue

Forms of prologue

Noun
pluralprologues
alternative USprolog
Verb
third-person singular presentprologues
present participleprologuing
past participleprologued
pastprologued

Plural of prologue: prologues

Origin of prologue

From Middle English prologue, prologe, from Old French prologue, from Latin prologus, from Ancient Greek πρόλογος (prólogos). Equivalent to pro- + -logue.

Words formed from prologue

Questions about prologue

What does prologue mean?
Prologue means a speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel.
What is prologue in Hindi?
Prologue in Hindi is प्रस्तावना (prastāvnā). See Prologue meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is prologue?
Prologue can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce prologue?
Prologue is pronounced /ˈpɹəʊlɒɡ/ (UK).
What is the plural of prologue?
The plural of prologue is prologues.

Words near prologue in the dictionary

  1. prologizes
  2. prologizing
  3. prologomena
  4. prologomenon
  5. prologs
  6. prologue
  7. prologued
  8. prologuelike
  9. prologuer
  10. prologuers
  11. prologues

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prologue (page history and authors); prologue (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); پرستاو (Urdu) (page history and authors); prologue (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prologue (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prologue (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prologue (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Cite this entry: “prologue.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prologue. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.