Adjacent Words

hysteron proteron definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: reversal of normal order of two words or sentences etc. (as in `bred and born')
2: the logical fallacy of using as a true premise a proposition that is yet to be proved

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Late Latin, from Greek, literally, (the) later earlier, (the) latter first Date: 1565 a figure of speech consisting of the reversal of a natural or rational order (as in “then came the thunder and the lightning”)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. Rhet. a figure of speech in which what should come last is put first; an inversion of the natural order (e.g. I die! I faint! I fail!). Etymology: LL f. Gk husteron proteron the latter (put in place of) the former

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hysterology Hys`ter*ol"o*gy, n. [Gr. ?; ? the latter + ? discourse: cf. F. hyst['e]rologie.] (Rhet.) A figure by which the ordinary course of thought is inverted in expression, and the last put first; -- called also hysteron proteron.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hysteron proteron Hys"te*ron prot"e*ron [NL., fr. Gr. ? the latter, following + ? before, others, sooner.] (Rhet.) (a) A figure in which the natural order of sense is reversed; hysterology; as, valet atque vivit, ``he is well and lives.'' (b) An inversion of logical order, in which the conclusion is put before the premises, or the thing proved before the evidence.

Moby Thesaurus

anastrophe, argument, argument by analogy, argumentum ad baculum, argumentum ad captandum, argumentum ad hominem, arsy-varsiness, bad case, begging the question, chiasmus, circular argument, claptrap, clutter, crowd-pleasing argument, empty words, fallacy, farrago, formal fallacy, hash, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hodgepodge, hypallage, hyperbaton, insincere argument, jumble, litter, logical fallacy, material fallacy, mere rhetoric, mess, metastasis, metathesis, mishmash, moonshine, non sequitur, palindrome, paralogism, parenthesis, petitio principii, philosophism, pseudosyllogism, scramble, solecism, sophism, sophistry, synchysis, tmesis, topsy-turviness, topsy-turvydom, tumble, turmoil, unholy mess, verbal fallacy, weak point, welter