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In ancient Greek drama, the prologos (a word that means basically "speaking before") was the opening portion of the play, before the entry of the all-important chorus. It might be spoken by a single actor, maybe playing a god, who would "set the scene" for the audience. Playwrights today instead often provide the same kind of "scene-setting" information through dialogue near the play's beginning; in movies, it may appear (as in the "Star Wars" series) in the form of actual written text. In a nonfiction book, the lead-in is now usually called a preface or introduction; novels rarely provide any introduction at all. Still, prologue remains a useful word for nonliterary purposes. The saying "The past is prologue" tells us that, in real life, almost everything can be a prologue to what follows it.
Synonyms
Examples of prologue in a Sentence
Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2024
There are two casts in the show: the main company and the prologue cast, which provides pre-curtain entertainment.
—Adrienne Miller, Vogue, 5 Mar. 2024
As established by a brief prologue, set at a 2015 race that went awry, Wahlberg’s Michael is perceived as the best adventure racer to have never won an event.
—Thomas Floyd, Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2024
In a brief prologue, a 12-year-old girl (Riley Elise Fincher-Foster) stumbles upon a bottle of pills in the greenest of fields.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2024
Team Visma-Lease a Bike riders debuted the large helmet at the Tirreno-Adriatico prologue in Italy on Monday.
—George Ramsay, CNN, 6 Mar. 2024
While the initial 10 episodes constitute an extended prologue — the end of the generation that defined Robert's Rebellion, the rise of their children — season 2 dives deep into the brave new era.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 29 Feb. 2024
The first look contained a photo of what appears to be a prologue to the album.
—Lauren Huff, EW.com, 6 Feb. 2024
The Kansas City Chiefs served a fresh reminder Sunday that the regular season is merely prologue to the games that really matter.
—Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 28 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prologue.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Middle English prolog, from Anglo-French prologue, from Latin prologus preface to a play, from Greek prologos part of a Greek play preceding the entry of the chorus, from pro- before + legein to speak — more at pro-, legend
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Dictionary Entries Near prologue
Cite this Entry
“Prologue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prologue. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
prologue
noun
More from Merriam-Webster on prologue
Nglish: Translation of prologue for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of prologue for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about prologue
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