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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.
Examples of prologue in a Sentence
Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Feb. 2026
Lean and terse and driven more by anxiety than incident, Van Dusen’s script doesn’t go in for surprises or conventionally developing tension, not least since the film’s prologue has already shown us where it’s all apocalyptically headed.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 13 Feb. 2026
Both men served as a prologue of sorts.
—Literary Hub, 21 Jan. 2026
Advertisement The show also falls prey to a few unfortunate streaming-era trends, from a penultimate flashback episode that delays the payoff of a cliffhanger by filling in backstory of questionable utility, to a scantness of plot that makes the whole short season feel like an overgrown prologue.
—Judy Berman, Time, 13 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for prologue
Cite this Entry
“Prologue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prologue. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.
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prologue
noun
