proleptic

English[edit]

proleptic (comparative more proleptic, superlative most proleptic)

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.
Of an event, assigned a date that is too early.
(rhetoric) Anticipating and answering objections before they have been raised; procataleptic.

1877, W. B. Pope., A Compendium of Christian Theology, Volume 2, Wesleyan Conference Office, 2 Castle Street, Coty Road; Sold at 66, Paternoster Row, p. 348:
It must be always remembered that this was the object for which the Three Chapters which the Predestinarians have taken refuge in: they were written in fact as a proleptical refutation of such views.
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, Nashville: Abingdon Press, page 151:
In World Two, Jesus can be seen as the proleptic event, giving promise of God's vindication of creation in and through history.

calendar: extrapolated to dates prior to its first adoption

having been assigned too early a date

proleptic m or n (feminine singular proleptică, masculine plural proleptici, feminine and neuter plural proleptice)

Declension of proleptic