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Webster 1828 Edition


Proleptic

PROLEP'TIC


Definition 2024


proleptic

proleptic

English

Adjective

proleptic (comparative more proleptic, superlative most proleptic)

  1. Of a calendar, extrapolated to dates prior to its first adoption; of those used to adjust to or from the Julian calendar or Gregorian calendar.
  2. Of an event, assigned a date that is too early.
  3. (rhetoric) Anticipating and answering objections before they have been raised; procataleptic.

Synonyms

Quotations

  • 1925, John Dewey. Experience and Nature In The Later Works of John Dewey, Vol. 1, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale (IL), p. 150:
    When we name an event, calling it fire, we speak proleptically; we do not name an immediate event; that is impossible. We employ a term of discourse; we invoke a meaning, namely, the potential consequence of the existence.
  • 1989, W. Paul Jones. Theological Worlds Abingdon Press, Nashville, p. 151:
    In World Two, Jesus can be seen as the proleptic event, giving promise of God's vindication of creation in and through history.

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Translations