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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
Tom Wheeler, TIME, 30 Jan. 2025
As promised, the first half of the movie, with its grim journey through the decades, turns out to be a prologue to the story of the teenage Noor’s fate.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 25 Jan. 2025
Enabling that in the game's prologue brings it closer to FX's Shogun than any other game, and that's cool.
—John Yoo and John Shu, Newsweek, 23 Jan. 2025
But look, this is the prologue this week, right, and – and next week.
—NBC News, 12 Jan. 2025
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Dictionary Entries Near prologue
Cite this Entry
“Prologue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prologue. Accessed 12 Feb. 2025.
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prologue
noun
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