1. of or relating to cataphora; referring forward to a word or phrase that appears later in a sentence or text
Usage: linguistics, grammar

Examples

• In the sentence 'When he arrived, John was tired,' the pronoun 'he' is cataphoric because it refers forward to 'John.'
• The cataphoric reference in 'Before she left, Mary packed her bags' points ahead to the subject 'Mary.'
• Cataphoric pronouns are less common in English than anaphoric ones.
• The phrase 'the following people' is cataphoric because it introduces information that comes next.
• Linguists study cataphoric links to understand how readers process forward-looking references.