The hysteron proteron (from the Greek: ὕστερον πρότερον, hýsteron próteron, "later earlier") is a rhetorical device. It occurs when the first key word of the idea refers to something that happens temporally later than the second key word. The goal is to call attention to the more important idea by placing it first. By this deliberate reversal, hysteron proteron draws attention to the important point, so giving it primacy.Hysteron proteron is a form of hyperbaton, which describes general rearrangements of the sentence.