Rhetoric and Rhetorical Devices
354. Rhetoric and Rhetorical Devices
See also 21. ARGUMENTATION ; 236. LANGUAGE ; 237. LANGUAGE STYLE ; 249. LITERATURE ; 250. LOGIC ; 382. SPEECH .
- acroama
- 1. a discourse that is not part of an argument.
- 2. lectures heard only by disciples of a school, and not intended to be written down.
- acroasis
- a spoken disquisition; a monologue.
- adnomination
- Obsolete. 1. paronomasia.
- 2. alliteration. Also called agnomination, annomination .
- aeolism
- a tendency to longwindedness. —aeolisdc, adj.
- alliteration
- the repetition of a sound, especially a consonant, for rhetorical or poetic effect. Also called adnomination, agnomination, annomination . —alliterative, adj.
- allocution
- 1. a particular or special way of speaking.
- 2. a formal address or speech.
- anacoenosis
- in debate, an appeal by the speaker to his opponents or to the audience for an opinion of the point.
- anadiplosis
- a device in which an unimportant word or the beginning of a phrase in one sentence is repeated in the following sentence, often with a change or extension of the sense. Cf. epanastrophe .
- anaphora
- the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses or clauses, as the repetition of Blessed in the Beatitudes. Cf. epanaphora, epiphora. —anaphoral, adj.
- anastrophe
- a rhetorical device in which the usual word order of a phrase or sentence is reversed.
- annomination
- adnomination.
- antanaclasis
- a rhetorical device in which the same word is repeated but with a different sense each time. See also 186. GRAMMAR .
- antimetathesis
- the switching of the terms of an antithesis.
- antiphrasis
- the use of a word in a sense opposite to its proper meaning. —antiphrastic, antiphrastical, adj.
- antithetics
- the proposing of opposing doctrines or contrasts. —antithetic, antithetical, adj.
- apophasis
- a spoken or written figure in which an assertion is made in the midst of a denial, as in Mark Antony’s funeral speech for Caesar. Also called paralipsis . —apophasic, adj.
- aposiopesis
- a sudden breaking off in the middle of a sentence as if unable or unwilling to proceed. —aposiopetic, adj.
- apostrophe
- a variety of personification in which the dead, absent, or inanimate are addressed as if present. —apostrophic, adj.
- apostrophism
- a manner of speech in which the speaker continually interrupts his train of thought and continuity of subject by interjecting subordinate ideas and comments. —apostrophist, n.
- Asiaticism
- a manner of speech, writing, or architecture distinguished by excessive ornamentation or floridity. —Asiatical, adj.
- assonance
- resemblance of sound, particularly vowel sounds, occurring in words of close proximity.
- asteism
- polite and ingenious irony.
- asyndeton
- a rhetorical device in which conjunctions or other connecting words are omitted, produced a staccato, emphatic effect. —asyndetic, adj.
- battology
- futile repetition in speech or writing.
- chiasmus
- a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, as “flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike” (Coleridge). —chiastic, adj.
- deipnosophism
- the art of dinner conversation. —deipnosophist, n .
- diallage
- a figure of rhetoric in which arguments are considered from different viewpoints and then turned to make one point.
- dicaeology
- Obsolete, an excuse or justification.
- ecbasis
- a rhetorical device in which an orator deals with things in terms of events and their consequences.
- ecphonema, ecphonesis
- a sudden, inflamed exclamation, used for emphasis or to capture the attention.
- elocution
- 1. the art of public speaking.
- 2. the manner or quality of a person’s speech.
- 3. Rare. the act of speech.
- 4. Obsolete, eloquence.
- elocutionist
- 1. a person skilled at public speaking.
- 2. a teacher of elocution.
- eloquence
- graceful, forceful, or persuasive speech. —eloquent, adj.
- epanadiplosis
- a figure of speech in which an orator or writer ends a sentence with the same word with which it was begun. Cf. anadiplosis .
- epanados
- 1. the repeating of a phrase or sentence in reverse order.
- 2. a return to the main topic or heading after a digression.
- epanalepsis
- repetition of the same word or phrase after other words have intervened.
- epanaphora
- a rhetorical device consisting of repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences. Cf. anaphora .
- epanastrophe
- a device in which the end of one clause is made the beginning of the next. Cf. anadiplosis .
- epanorthosis
- a rhetorical device in which something just said is repeated and stronger or more apt words are substituted.
- epiphora
- the repetition of a word or words at the end of two or more successive clauses, phrases, or verses, as “I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong.” Also called epistrophe. Cf. anaphora.
- erotesis
- a manner of phrasing a question that presupposes an answer that is either a strong affirmative or, more often, a strong negative.
- exordium
- the beginning or introductory part of a book or other printed work, or of a discourse.
- fustian
- a high-flown, bombastic style of writing or speaking. —fustianist, n.
- gemmination
- the immediate repetition of a word, phrase, sentence, etc., for emphasis and rhetorical effect.
- gongorism, Gongorism
- an elaborate, florid, intricate style of writing, after Góngora y Argote.
- hendiadys
- a rhetorical device in which a complex idea is expressed by two substantives joined by a conjunction instead of by a substantive qualified by an adjective.
- homiletics
- the art of sacred speaking; preaching. —homiletic, homiletical, adj.
- homily
- a sermon or serious admonition. —homilist, homilete, n .
- homoeoptoton
- a rhetorical device consisting of the repetition of the same case endings, inflections, etc., at the end of phrases.
- homoeoteleuton
- a device of rhetoric in which like-sounding words, syllables, or phrases are used at the end of succeeding sentences or lines.
- hypallage
- the deliberate movement for effect and emphasis of one of a group of nouns from a more natural position to one less natural, as Virgil’s “the trumpet’s Tuscan blare” for “the Tuscan trumpet’s blare.” —hypallactic, adj.
- hyperbaton
- a rhetorical device in which the usual or expected word order is inverted.
- hyperbole
- 1. an obvious and intentional exaggeration.
- 2. an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “She’s as big as a house.” Cf. litotes . —hyperbolic, adj.
- hyperbolism
- 1. the use of hyperbole, or exaggeration.
- 2. a hyperbolic or exaggerated statement. —hyperbolist, n.
- hypotyposis
- the use of colorful description or word-picturing.
- hysteron proteron
- a figure of speech in which what logically should come last comes flrst, as “bred and bom” and “thunder and lightning.” Also called hysterology .
- laconicism, laconism
- a tendency to use few words to express a great deal; conciseness. —laconic, adj.
- lexiphanicism
- Archaic. 1. the use ofexcessively learned and bombastic terminology.
- 2. an instance of this language style. —lexiphanic, adj.
- litotes
- an understatement, especially one in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary, as in “it’s not unpleasant.”
- macaronicism
- a style of language in which Latin words are mixed with vernacular words, some of which have Latin endings affixed to them, as skato, slippere, falli, bumptum. macaronic , adj.
- mataeology
- a discourse that is fruitless or in vain. —mataeologian, n. —mataeological, adj .
- meiosis
- an expressive understatement, especially litotes. —meiotic, adj .
- metabasis
- a transition from one subject to another. Also metabola, metabole. —metabatic, adj .
- metalepsis
- a rhetorical device in which a word that is used figuratively is taken through a succession of its different meanings or two or more tropes are united in the use of a single word. —metaleptic, adj .
- metonymy
- a rhetorical or stylistic device in which one thing is named or referred to by the name of another, related thing; for example, the use of White House for the presidential administration. —metonym, n. —metonymous, metonymic, metonymical, adj .
- nice-nellyism, nice-Nellyism
- a euphemism. See also 28. ATTITUDES ; 237. LANGUAGE STYLE .
- oxymoron
- a rhetorical device or figure of speech in which contradictory or opposite words or concepts are combined for effect. —oxymoronic, adj .
- palilogy, palillogy
- the immediate repetition of a word for emphasis, as “the living, the living, he shall praise thee” (Isaiah 38:19).
- paromology, paromologia
- a concession made by a speaker to an opponent in order to strengthen his own position. —paromologetic, adj.
- paronomasia
- the use of a word in different senses or the use of words similar in sound for effect, as humor or ambiguity; punning. Also called adnomination, agnomination, annomination .
- pathopoeia
- a speech, figure of speech, or rhetorical device aimed to stimulate the passions.
- periphrasis
- 1. a roundabout way of speaking or writing; circumlocution.
- 2. an expression in such fashion. See also 236. LANGUAGE . —periphrastic, adj.
- personification
- the attribution of personality to an inanimate object or abstraction, as “the table tripped me.” Also called prosopopoeia . —personificative, adj.
- philippic
- an oration or declamation full of bitter and accusatory invective, named after the orations of Demosthenes attacking Philip of Macedon.
- pleonasm
- 1. the use of unnecessary words to express an idea; redundancy.
- 2. an instance of this, as true fact.
- 3. a redundant word or expression. —pleonastic, adj.
- procatalepsis
- the anticipating and answering of an opponent’s possible objections. —procataleptic, adj.
- prolegomenon
- a preliminary remark or introduction, as to a speech; the foreword to a book or treatise. —prolegomenary, prolegomenous, adj.
- punning
- paronomasia.
- rhetorician
- 1. a teacher of rhetoric.
- 2. one skilled in the art of rhetoric.
- 3. a speaker who overuses rhetorical devices, especially a bombastic or overelaborate orator.
- sardonicism
- a style of speaking or writing characterized by bitter, contemptuous, or scornful derision.
- sophist
- 1. Ancient Greece. a teacher of rhetoric, philosophy, etc.; hence, a learned person.
- 2. one who is given to the specious arguments often used by the sophists.
- sophistry
- 1. the teachings and ways of teaching of the Greek sophists.
- 2. specious or fallacious reasoning, as was sometimes used by the sophists.
- syllepsis
- the use of a word with the same syntactic relation to two adjacent words, in a literal sense with one and a metaphorical sense with the other, as in “the ships collided, and the sailors and many dreams were drowned.” —sylleptic, adj.
- synaloepha, synalepha
- the contraction of two adjacent vowels into one syllable, as by elision.
- synchoresis
- the making of a concession that will leave one’s opponent open to a sharp retort. —synchoretic, adj.
- syncrisis
- a rhetorical device that emphasizes the comparison of opposites; contrast.
- synecdoche
- the use of a part for a whole or a whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, as in “a Rockefeller” for a rich man or “wheels” for transportation. —synecdochic, synecdochical, adj.
- synecdochism
- the style of speaking that utilizes synecdoche.
- thetics
- the setting forth of propositions or principles. —thetic, thetical, adj.
- triticism
- a trite, commonplace or hackneyed saying, expression, etc; a platitude.
- tropist
- a person who explains the Scriptures in terms of tropes, or figures of speech.
- tropology
- 1. the use of flgurative language in writing.
- 2. a treatise on figures of speech or tropes. —tropologic, tropological, adj.
- zeugma
- the use of a word grammatically related to two adjacent words, but inappropriate for one of them, as in “he loved both his wife and his wallet.” —zeugmatic, adj.
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