prologue

That is especially true in the playoffs, where starting pitchers have generally been little more than the prologue to a whole parade of relievers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

“It’s Florida, Man,” HBO Max “What you’re about to see may be dangerous, illegal, unethical, petty, misguided, immoral and most definitely stupid,” a prologue warns at the top of each episode.

From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2026

"Persistently high prices are a burden for the American people, but the recent past need not be prologue," he said after the meeting at which he also wanted wide-ranging reforms at the bank.

From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026

But if past is prologue, the courts won’t willingly implement reform.

From Slate ● Jun. 8, 2026

“Say, what’re you doing today, anyhow? All dressed up and mooning around like the prologue to a suttee. Did you go to Psychology this morning?”

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

Similar notes often appear in the prologues of scientific innovation or inventor profiles, interestingly enough.

From Salon ● May 15, 2019

Forewords, prefaces and afterwords rank squarely among literature’s stepchildren — above marginalia and non-David Foster Wallace footnotes perhaps but below prologues and postscripts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2019

Best extras: Let’s skip the production featurettes for a minute and focus on the three included, though previously released to the Internet, short films that act as prologues for the main event.

From Washington Times ● Jan. 17, 2018

Plenty of films use flashbacks or prologues featuring a younger version of the protagonist to telescope an adult hero’s journey, and it can be a hokey device for any number of reasons, including misbegotten casting.

From New York Times ● Dec. 8, 2016

The loss of many of his prologues deprives us of the kind of knowledge of his circumstances and position which Terence affords us in his prologues.

From The Roman Poets of the Republic by W. Y. Sellar

This was one of three events that probably clouded the sunlit hours of the early comedies and prologued the dark vision of the great tragedies.

From Time Magazine Archive

"If I fail," and Warren was dumbfounded, even after the unreal scenes which had prologued this situation.

From The Ghost Breaker A Novel Based Upon the Play by Charles Goddard

No wonder he prologued his piping after the following dismal fashion:—   "In dreary verse my rhymes I make,   Bewailing whilst such theme I take."

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 15, January, 1859 by Various