prolepsis

 
Pronunciation: /prəʊˈlɛpsɪs, -ˈliːpsɪs/

noun (plural prolepses /-siːz/)

[mass noun]
  • 1 Rhetoric the anticipation and answering of possible objections in rhetorical speech.
  • 2the representation of a thing as existing before it actually does or did so, as in he was a dead man when he entered.
  • literary a figurative device in narrative, in which a future event is prefigured: the destruction of the Vendôme Column and his part in it are foreshadowed in moments of haunting prolepsis

Derivatives

proleptic

adjective

Origin:

late Middle English (as a term in rhetoric): via late Latin from Greek prolēpsis, from prolambanein 'anticipate', from pro 'before' + lambanein 'take'