prologue
19
6.0
- noun
- /ˈproʊlɔɡ/
- Literature
- The play begins with a prologue that introduces the main characters and sets the scene.
- prologue and epilogue
- author's prologue
- prologue of a play
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Watch on YouTubeBut I feel like reading the prologue to you will sell you on this book.
- But I feel like reading the prologue to you will sell you on this book.
- So NK Jemison, on the first page of the prologue, says here is a land.
- So a very, very long prologue, though.
- So there's a prologue in which she is not a bird in a cage, she's a bird on a branch.
- This is something that a lot of people have taken from this prologue of Thus Spoke Zarathustra and, you know, thought about as well.
- OK on the prologue and we're starting.
Examples
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So the general prologue is an excellent text for teaching students to read slowly.
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For the prologue, he recounts the story of the woman with the calabash.
Academic text (2008) -
But I feel like reading the prologue to you will sell you on this book.
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OK on the prologue and we're starting.
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So we give them a little prologue to fit the picture.
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"Really," she said, "such a long prologue to what you started out to say."
Fiction book (2002) -
I wanted to use it in its original form as the prologue for Queen.
Fiction book (1999) -
Which brought her back to the prologue of Envy she had read that afternoon.
Fiction book (2002) -
I've read the first chapter and the prologue and I'm enjoying it.
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The painting of the Western town from the prologue: saloon, livery stable, sunset.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
358
1.0
The first part that marks the start of something, for example a ceremony
62
3.2
A short speech that makes someone known and starts an event
52
2.1
The first part of a book, speech, or essay that explains the topic
26
4.4
An event that comes before something more important
14
4.9
A short introduction before the main part of a talk or story
9
4.7
A short introduction at the start of a book that explains what it is about, written by someone else
8
7.2
An event or action that comes before something more important
1
5.6
A short event or performance that comes before the main show
1
9.9
An introduction at the start of a book that explains its main ideas
1
9.5
A short introduction at the start of a book, poem, or speech
1
9.9
The opening words of a text that are used as its title
1
9.9
Beginning part of a play, story, or speech that sets the scene
1
9.9
A short introduction before a story that gives the main lesson
A short introduction before the main part of a book
How Introductory
52
2.1
16
4.4
- Literature
19
6.0
9
4.7
- Literature
1
8.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
prologue = pro + logue
The word is built from the combining forms pro- ('before') + -logue ('speech/word'), a logical 'before-speech' for an introduction, but '-logue' is not a standalone English word and 'pro' can be ambiguous, so learners may not fully deduce the meaning from components alone.
Etymology
Prologue comes from the Greek parts pro- meaning 'before' and -logue meaning 'speech' or 'word', the same -logue you see in dialogue. So a prologue is like a 'speech before' a play and today means the short introduction that sets the scene.