Meanings
- rhetoricA rhetorical exercise in which the speaker raises an objection to his own argument and then immediately answers it, in an attempt to strengthen the argument by dealing with possible counter-arguments.
- rhetoricRebuttal of anticipated objections.
This long sequence skilfully deploys the rhetorical tropes of procatalepsis and concessio, pre-emption and concession: that is, they concede the accuracy of certain classic attacks on communism, but in ways that redound on their opponents.
2022, China Miéville, chapter 3, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLCSynonyms: prebuttal, preemption, prolepsis
- grammarLeft dislocation.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounRebuttal of anticipated objections.
Origin
- Ancient Greekπροκατάληψις“seizing in advance”
- Latinprocatalepsis“anticipating and answering an objection”
- Englishprocatalepsis
From Latin procatalepsis (“anticipating and answering an objection”), from Ancient Greek προκατάληψις (prokatálēpsis, “seizing in advance”).
More words from Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
procatalepsis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/procatalepsis
“procatalepsis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/procatalepsis. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “procatalepsis,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/procatalepsis.
Source: procatalepsis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.