Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRO-E-GU'MIN-AL, a. [Gr. προηγεομαι, to go before.]

Predisposing. That cause without which a disease can not exist, which determines its nature and character, but which only produces a predisposition, and always requires the aid of a procatarctic cause to kindle it into action. Only a limited number of diseases require the influence of a proeguminal and a procatarctic cause for their production.