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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
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 June 2024
While the prologue seems a little longer than most, the game does loosen some of the hand-holding as Mario goes along.
—Felecia Wellington Radel, USA TODAY, 23 May 2024
That said, Riot's and Ubisoft’s recent past may serve as prologue for Activision Blizzard.
—Cecilia D'anastasio, WIRED, 23 July 2021
The prologue to the opera had been an argument among the gods of Fortune, Virtue and Love.
—Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for prologue 
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.
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“Prologue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prologue. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
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prologue
noun
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