Prologue

/ˈpɹəʊlɒɡ/ · noun

Meaning

(literature, rhetoric) A speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel..

Definitions by Sense

1. (literature, rhetoric) A speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel.
2. One who delivers a prologue.
3. (computing) A component of a computer program that prepares the computer to execute a routine.
4. (cycling) 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.
6. (literature, rhetoric) To introduce with a formal preface, or prologue.

Example Sentences

“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 outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”

And hither am I come, / A Prologue arm’d, but not in confidence / Of Authors pen, or Actors voyce;

[…]harbindgers preceading ſtill the fates and prologue to the Omen comming on[…]

Synonyms for prologue

Antonyms for prologue

Related Words

Word Forms

• prologues
• prolog
• prologuing
• prologued

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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