Rhetoric and Rhetorical Devices

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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.