prologue

An opening speech or section that introduces a story or play.

• Read the prologue first.
• The play begins with a short prologue.
• Her novel has a prologue set fifty years earlier.

How to use it: prologue to something (The prologue to the play explains the conflict.)

Similar words: introduction, preface

Opposites: epilogue

Common phrases: short prologue, prologue to something, opening prologue

A part of a computer program that gets things ready before another part runs.

• The prologue saves the registers.
• This compiler generates a short function prologue.
• The routine cannot run correctly without its prologue.

Opposites: epilogue

Common phrases: function prologue, routine prologue

A person who gives the opening speech before a play.

• The prologue stepped onto the stage.
• An actor playing the prologue welcomed the audience.
• The prologue spoke before the main characters appeared.

Common phrases: the prologue enters, prologue speaks

A church book with readings for each day, including accounts of saints’ lives.

• The monk opened the prologue.
• Today’s reading in the prologue describes a saint’s life.
• The monastery kept an old prologue in its library.

Common phrases: read the prologue, church prologue

To begin something with a formal introduction.

• She prologued the play with a speech.
• The author prologues his story with a warning.
• He prologued the ceremony with some formal remarks.

How to use it: prologue something with something (He prologued the story with a short poem.)

Similar words: introduce, preface

Common phrases: prologue something with, prologue a play