pro-form: Meaning and Definition of

pro-form

Pronunciation: (prō'fôrm"), [key]
— n. Gram.
  1. a word used to replace or substitute for a word, phrase, or clause belonging to a given grammatical class, as a pronoun used to replace a noun or noun phrase, there used to replace an adverb or adverbial phrase of place, as in I parked the car near the entrance and left it there, or so used to substitute for a clause, as in Have they come? I think so.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.