noun
prologue
PROH-log
noun
1
An introductory section that comes before the main part of a play, book, or story.
"The novel's prologue explains events that happened twenty years before the main plot begins."
"Shakespeare often used a prologue to set the scene before the actors took the stage."
2
In cycling, a short individual time trial held before a multi-stage race to decide the early race leader.
"He won the prologue by two seconds and wore the leader's jersey on day one."
verb
1
To introduce something with a formal opening statement.
"The director chose to prologue the film with a brief historical note."
How to Use Prologue
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe opening part that comes before the real story starts.
Common mistake
Don't confuse with epilogue, which comes at the end rather than the beginning.
Easily confused with
Word Forms
prologued past tense, prologues plural, prologues singular
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The novel's _____ explains events that happened twenty years before the main plot begins.
Etymology
From Old French prologue, from Latin prologus, from Greek prólogos, built from pro- ("before") plus -logue ("speech").