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english vocab

Terms

undefined, object
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solecism
deviation from conventional usage in grammar: "I ain't done nothing."
enallage
Enallage (from the Greek 'εναλλαγή, enallage, meaning interchange) is a term used to mean the substitution of one grammatical form for another (possibly incorrect) one.
hypallage
also known as a transferred epithet. f o s in which the ep. is transferred from the appropriate noun to another - happy day, sleepless night, forgetful snow
anadiplosis
repeat of last word of one clause at the beginning of a following clause.
apotropaic
intended to ward off evil
maieutic
Of or relating to the aspect of the Socratic method that induces a respondent to formulate latent concepts through a dialectic or logical sequence of questions.
heresy of paraphrase
impossibility of paraphrasing a poem b/c it isolates paraphrase from local details, destroying meaning (Cleanth Brooks, The Well-wrought Urn)
antistrophe
closing each of a series of phrases with the same word
zeugma
fig of s - word applied to two others in different senses: "she looked at the object with suspicion and a magnifying glass."
anaphora
beginning each of a series of phrases with the same word
synecdoche
a figure of speech in which # a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing
zeugma
Zeugma (from the Greek word "ζεύγμα", meaning "yoke") is a figure of speech describing the joining of two or more parts of a sentence with a single common verb or noun. A zeugma employs both ellipsis, the omission of words which are easily understood, and parallelism, the balance of several words or phrases.
sententia
short, pithy statement expressing an opinion, sententious now used pejoratively
stichomythia
in drama, short, us. rapid, reparteee
amphiboly
an ambiguity produced either by grammatical looseness or by double meaning - "He spoke to the man laughing."
eidetic
applied to an image that revives an optical impression w/ hallucinatory clearness, or to the faculty of seeing such images.
antonomasia
a substitution of any epithet or phrase for a proper name, such as "the little corporal" for Napoleon I. The reverse process is also sometimes called antonomasia. The word derives from the Greek word antonomazein meaning "to name differently".[1] Antonomasia is a particular form of metonymy.
mulct
a penalty or fine
hendiadys
fig. of speech, one idea expressed by two substantives "gloom and despondency"
cenobite
A member of a convent or other religious community.
hylomorphic
Hylomorphism (Greek ὑλο- hylo-, "wood, matter" + -morphism < Greek μορφή, morphē, "form") is the philosophical theory, originating with Socrates, which conceptually identifies substance as matter and form. More exactly, substances are conceived as forms inhering in matter.
ephebe
A youth between 18 and 20 years of age in ancient Greece
theophany
a. manifestation or appearance of God or god to man b. a festival celebrating the manifestation of a deity, esp. Christmas
hypostasis
In linguistics, a hypostasis, from the Greek word ὑπόστασις [1] meaning foundation, base or that which stands behind is a relationship between a name and a known quantity, as a cultural personification (i.e. objectification with personality) of an entity or quality. It often connotes the personification of typically elemental powers, such as wind and fire, or human life, fertility, and death.
stasimon
ode sung by chorus after taking position in orchestra, alternating with dialogue delivered by other actors
soteriology
branch of theology that deals with salvation
metonymy
metonymy (IPA: /mɨˈtɒnɨmi/) is the use of a word for a concept or object which is associated with the concept/object originally denoted by the word.
catachresis
Catachresis (from Greek κατάχρησις), which literally means the incorrect or improper use of a word -- such as using the word decimate (e.g., "they were severely decimated") mistakenly for devastated -- is a term used to denote the (usually intentional) use of any figure of speech that flagrantly violates the norms of a language community.
heuristic
serving to find out or discover
tautology
redundant words or ideas "I myself personally"
minatory
Of a menacing or threatening nature; minacious.
akrasia
acting against one's better judgment, weakness of the will, incontinence
pleonasm
the use of more words (or even word-parts) than necessary to express an idea clearly. The word comes originally from Greek πλεονασμός ("excess"). A closely related, narrower concept (some would say a subset of pleonasm) is rhetorical tautology, in which essentially the same thing is said more than once in different words (e.g "black darkness", "cold ice", "burning fire"). Regardless, both are a form of redundancy. Pleonasm and tautology each refer to different forms of redundancy in speech and the written word.
meiosis
meiosis is a figure of speech that intentionally understates something or implies that it is lesser in significance or size than it really is. Meiosis is the opposite of auxesis, and is also sometimes used as a synonym for litotes. "The Recent Unpleasantness" used in Southern American idiom to refer to the American Civil War and its aftermath.
Katabasis
Katabasis is the epic convention of the hero's trip into the underworld. also In poetry and rhetoric, the term katabasis refers to a "gradual descending" of emphasis on a theme within a sentence or paragraph, while anabasis refers to a gradual ascending in emphasis.

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