Definition:
General name for argumentative strategies whereby a speaker or writer foresees and replies to objections. Similar to refutation. See also prolepsis, definition #1.
Etymology:
From the Latin, "to take before"Examples and Observations:
- "On the morning of his execution, King Charles the First put on two shirts. 'If I tremble with the cold,' he said, 'my enemies will say it was from fear. I will not expose myself to such reproaches.'"
(quoted in Sleuth, by Anthony Shaffer) - "Of course, my critics will say: 'What is the point of a Modern Pod For Sitting In? The user may just as well smoke his cigarettes and converse with others at a café, without the inconvenience of being cocooned inside a ludicrous pod!' How exasperating critics can be. The 'point' of my Modern Pod is that it uses a new material, Perplex. Is innovation no longer enough for these . . . these jaded nincompoops?"
(French architect and designer L'Obscurier, Diaries) - "[Wahida] Kahn anticipates criticism: Why don’t the adults learn English, get jobs, assimilate? She tries to explain how decades of war have traumatized Afghan refugees. Her own parents, she said, are not the same confident people they used to be, and they were once one of Afghanistan’s open-minded families, with two working parents and plans to educate their daughters."
(Chrisanne Beckner, "Echoes from Afghanistan," Feb. 22, 2007)
Pronunciation: an-TISS-i-PAY-shun
Also Known As: anticipatio
