[UNDER CONSTRUCTION – This is very much work in progress.]
“We must be systematic; but we should keep our systems open.” – A. N. Whitehead
“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.” – Robert Burns
Introduction
My interest here is in investigating rhetorical terms, especially those of antiquity, for the light that they shed on questions within poetics and literary theory, the understanding of persuasion, and wider issues of linguistics and cognition.
From school or college, many will remember such terms as “metaphor”, “alliteration”, and “personification”. Some may recall “metonymy”. These are indeed figures of major importance, but what may not be realized is that there are hundreds of such rhetorical terms, figures or devices. It is these which I intend to list, explore and classify.
What are rhetorical terms? To simplify greatly, they denote any use of a word, phrase or construction that departs from “plain”, “normal” or “straightforward” language use which occurs in an identifiable way to achieve a persuasive, literary or poetic effect.
A distinction is thus made between literal (the “plain” and “normal” mentioned) and figurative language. However, such distinctions can be and have been contested on theoretical grounds.
The departure from normal use often occurs either through deviation or distortion, or through parallelism or patterning beyond “normal” expectations. The terms have historically often been divided into two groups –
trope – use of a word, phrase or image in a way not intended in its usual use
scheme – change in the standard word order or pattern
Through time, there has been some terminological confusion and contradiction regarding the high-level generic categories, particularly ”figure of speech” and “figure of thought”. In normal usage, metaphor, metonymy, etc. are often referred to as figures of speech, but many theorists identify the schemes more closely with figures of speech, and would consider metaphor, etc., as tropes, and as such, figures of thought.
The methodology for inclusion on the database is loose and inclusive, rather than strict and exclusive – at the core we have devices of rhetoric, such things as are often termed figures of speech, figures of thought, schemes or tropes. I have been particularly keen to include terms from the Ancient Greek, the Roman, Latin and Latinizations of the Greek, and those of the various Renaissance cultures (particularly Elizabethan England). There have been attempts by some theorists at Anglicization of some of the ancient terms, and many of these are included.
The database has a double focus – on the literary and poetic, and on persuasive and argumentative techniques and devices, though from some points of view, any such hard-and-fast division is not theoretically innocent. I have recently tried to include as many terms for argumentative fallacies or ploys as I can, again with a bias to terms of the ancient world.
As well as the core of figures, etc., some terms from the wider fields of poetics and linguistics are included, but the database is not intended to be a dictionary of these areas.
Though the methodology for inclusion is loose, I expect to improve its consistency, and expect that the developing classification systems will bring much rigour to bear on the raw material of the database. Taxonomic and classification issues are what I wish to address.
The charm of obscure, unfamiliar and forgotten terminology is one of the attractions of this enterprise, but as well as this I believe that an ongoing investigation of taxonomies, classifications and categorizations of the devices, figures, schemes and tropes of rhetoric can provide insights and structure within literary and rhetorical theory, and play a part in improving the rigour of such disciplines, which are often impeded by inadequate or vague terminology. More widely, awareness of the rich resources of rhetoric could enhance appreciation and criticism of discourses as seemingly disparate as poetic text and political speech.
Two Cheers for the Trivium
Rhetoric was, in the middle ages, partly as a result of scholastic enterprise to put in order the best ideas of antiquity, regarded as one of the seven liberal arts. The seven liberal arts divided into two groups – the trivium, made up of three disciplines – logic, grammar, and rhetoric – and the quadrivium, made up of four disciplines which we would now very roughly usually assimilate to the sciences. We are here concerned with rhetoric, but grammar, or to take it at its widest, what we would now call linguistics, will give us much help in what follows. My primary concern is with the classification of figures of speech, but I ought to give a very concise overview of the classical conception of rhetoric and of how the classification of the figures fits in.
Rhetoric
Though my main interest here is in literary rhetoric in its application to poetics, historically, rhetoric developed with its central focus on persuasion. We can roughly divide these two aspects of rhetoric, which overlap and interpenetrate, into aesthetics and persuasion. In the ancient Greek society where rhetoric initially developed, the persuasive arenas for the deployment of the techniques of rhetoric were deemed to be of three kinds: judicial (roughly, courts of law), deliberative (equivalent to legislative), and epideictic (or ceremonial). Aristotle sees these three as concerned with, respectively, the past, the future, and the present.
The “canons” of rhetoric, its five major divisions, are –
invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.
Style, or elocutio, is the division within which the figures of speech fall.
Back To Schooldays
Here, I’m going to give a quick review of some figures of speech which we may have learned in school. Most should be at least vaguely familiar. My purpose in this section is to jog the memory, and to give us an intuitive understanding of the sorts of things we are talking about, as a basic grounding. The seven figures I shall review are –
Metaphor, Simile, Personification, Hyperbole, Alliteration, Oxymoron, Onomatopoeia
Though this list is not arbitrary, there are other figures which have a good claim for inclusion. But we must begin somewhere. However, I will draw particular attention to two which I have not included – rhyme, and rhythm (often manifesting within poetics as metre). These two are very important, but since our general cultural understanding of them is in all likelihood already quite adequate for the level of analysis of this section, I need not belabour matters with superfluous explanation.
For the seven figures chosen, I will give brief definitions, and examples. Many of the examples will be from two plays by Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth – since these are frequently on the school syllabus and are relatively familiar.
[under construction]
Metaphor –
Romeo and Juliet –
If I profane with my …
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.”
(II. ii. 2-3)
Macbeth –
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage.”
Simile –
Romeo and Juliet –
“It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be”
Macbeth –
“As thick as hail came post with post”
“look like the innocent flower/But be the serpent under it.” (complicated)
Personification –
Romeo and Juliet –
“the grey eyed morn smiles on the frowning night”
Macbeth –
“Dark night strangles the travelling lamp” (both night and lamp personified)
“It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds,” [Scotland] but could be animism
Hyperbole –
Romeo and Juliet –
Juliet – “My bounty is as boundless as the sea.”
Mercutio – why,
thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more,
or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast
Macbeth –
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red. (2.2.57-61)
Alliteration –
Romeo and Juliet –
line 1/scene 1: “Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie.” and personification
“What early tongue so sweet saluteth me?” line 13 scene 1
Macbeth –
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” fog, filthy Act 1, scene 1
Oxymoron –
Romeo and Juliet –
Act 1, Scene 1 lines 168-1-74
“O brawling love! O loving hate!
O anything of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this!”
“parting is such sweet / sorrow” (2.2.199-200).
Macbeth –
Act 2 Scene 3
“I know this is a joyful trouble to you..”-MacDuff
Onomatopoeia –
Macbeth –
Ex. Act IV: “Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.” “Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined.”
Within all this, one can already discern some relationships between these seven figures – for example, metaphor and simile are clearly quite closely related, and personification could be regarded as a particular kind of metaphor. Alliteration, however, seems quite different from these, and of the other six of our types of figures, is perhaps closest to onomatopoeia, as it is to do with sound, rather than meaning.
So, given that there appear to be certain groupings of, and relationships between, these seven, figures might not just be different things which can be done within language, or literary language, and perhaps we can understand these and many others as falling within some sort of overall order. Could there be a systematization of figures of speech, or at least of a fair chunk of them? I believe there could.
Systematization
Using two concepts –
Operations
Levels
and the idea that a lot of what we would like to sort out can be regarded as different operations upon different levels of language, many figures of speech can be arranged into some sort of order.
Operations
There are two primary classes of operation, which are –
Deviation (deletion, addition, distortion)
Extra Patterning (repetition, parallelism)
Levels
For now at least, by levels I mean linguistic levels.
Linguistics
In general, we refer to the linguistic levels, but as this diagram, taken from Leech, indicates, the situation is, at least, two dimensional.
Furthermore, at least two of these “levels” include within themselves levels –
Phonological Levels
phoneme vowel or consonant, etc.
syllable stressed or unstressed
measure and foot. rhythm
Grammatical Levels
morphology (the grammar of the word), lexeme, morpheme
syntax
phrase
clause
sentence
Leech includes three other aspects of linguistic study, drawn from ancillary branches of linguistics, which can also be subject to operations, particularly deviation –
Ancillary
dialect
register
historical period
Noting the slight inaccuracy of collapsing linguistic “levels” into one dimension, it is nevertheless a valid simplification, in articulating the levels with the operations, to treat it as a dimension, as I will do in much of what follows.
The Two Dimensions
Leech notes the traditional definitions of scheme and trope as something like those given above, but then proposes to reinterpret them on the basis of modern linguistic theory as –
schemes: foregrounded repetitions of expression [realization and form]
tropes: foregrounded irregularities of content [semantics and form]
With this, he establishes some sort of congruity between our two primary classes of operation, derived from modern linguistics, and the traditional schemes / tropes distinction. Leech then observes that hyperbaton now falls outside these categories, being a linguistic irregularity which is a matter of expression. It seems to me that this is not so much of a problem if we regard operations and levels as two different axes, though as Leech shows, repetitions tend to be of expression, and irregularities tend to be of content.
Putting operations and levels together gives a two dimensional structure –
And here is a (very provisional – expect updates) diagram of what this gives us with some figures of speech added (click on diagram for higher resolution) –
Lest we run the danger of mistaking our maps for reality, let’s consider which figures fall outside, or seem recalcitrant to this schema. (Another aspect of this danger is that by locating, or perhaps even forcing, certain figures into the schema, we might render important aspects of these figures invisible to us, our perception of them being filtered too selectively through the screen of our schema.)
So far, we have not integrated –
Ambiguity and Puns
Irony, Hyperbole, Litotes
Interaction of Levels
One of the ways in which we might capture some of the features of poetic language which evade our two dimensional schema as it stands so far is by taking into account interactions between the linguistic levels. Again relying heavily on Leech, I have extracted various points at which he considers such matters.
It seems that the levels can either work together, being congruent or parallel, or be in some sort of tension, which could take the form of opposition, contrast or clash. In the latter case, we often say that the levels are cutting across each other.
If a level is subjected to some sort of distortion simply in order to satisfy the requirements of another level, for example the use of “o’er” to satisfy metrical requirements, this could be insignificant (the sort of thing I call “economic” and Leech often considers as “routine licences”) or might take on significance.
There follow some types of interaction.
Graphological Deviation
The poetic “line”, which does not exist in normal language use, interacts with punctuation and grammar, which exist in both poetry and non-poetic language use. This is often congruent, but can be used create tensions and ambiguities.
Alliteration as chiming
With mere alliteration, the effect is simply of a pleasing phonological patterning, an extra regularity. However, when this effect has a semantic significance, we talk of chiming. For example, in Burns’s phrase “of mice and men” (here anglicized), and in its taking up by Steinbeck as the title for his novella, we are invited, partly by the alliteration, to consider the relationship between mice and men. This could be of similarity, or of difference or opposition – size, sophistication, importance. At a level of greater complexity, both similarity and difference could be brought into play. It could challenge our assumption of difference to lead us to perceive similarity, as is, I think, the case here, or from similarity to difference / opposition. In our example, there can even be a philosophical import or message – people tend to think of themselves as radically different from mice, of a different order of being or ontological category, or moral significance, and this is challenged, partly with the aid of so simple a device as alliteration.
Similar considerations might apply to all of the figures within the wider grouping – alliteration, assonance, consonance, reverse rhyme, pararhyme and rhyme
Onomatopoeia
Here too we have an interaction between the phonetic and semantic levels, but brought about not by phonetic repetition but by this particular device.
Rhythm and Metre
Deviation from Metrical Norm
If this is purely for its own sake, it is not an interaction of levels. However, it is deviation brought to bear upon another poetic device, namely metre. It is possible that this kind of deviation could operate upon the normal rhythm of English speech, but I cannot think of an example. But this type of deviation could be to suit the necessities of other linguistic levels, and is thus what I term economic.
Defeated Expectancy
Metrical Variation
Grammar and Metre
Enjambment
[and Caesura?]
Counterpoint
Superimposition
Symbolism and Allegory
Puns and Word-Play
Irony
To give a thorough analysis of the interaction of levels, perhaps I would need a framework which included all operations on all levels (the two dimensional schema outlined above), mapped against all of the other levels with which they could interact, and then the characterization of the interaction (congruent, oppositional, etc.). How to characterize the interaction where, and founded in which, operations have been applied within both of the levels interacting, is beyond me, as yet, and may objectively be the point at which we are forced from the level of general theory to the specific.
Semantic Deviation
Leech places his main consideration of metaphor in the chapter on figurative language, which it quite rightly dominates. Synecdoche and metonymy are placed alongside it, and simile is brought in, in close relation to metaphor.
However, earlier, metaphor is also placed in relation to redundancy and absurdity, types of semantic oddity, and is presaged still earlier than that. Putting all of these various positionings of metaphor with neighbouring concepts together gives a structure something like this –
Now, this raises some questions – “a grief ago” is not the name for a type of figure, but an example, drawn from a poem by Dylan Thomas. [grammatical, deep and surface]
Our third type, here, is in general classed within the overall category of semantic deviations as being substitutions, and perhaps the third type simply is substitution at the semantic level (noting that simile does not usually take the form of substitution, and neither need the others).
Redundancy could, perhaps, be assimilated to the operation of deviation as addition applied to the linguistic level of semantics. Absurdity is certainly semantic deviation, but beyond that, may form a category of its own (I mean, being neither addition, deletion, permutation, nor substitution).
Metaphor, Metonymy, Synecdoche
[This section owes much to Chandler – Semiotics: The Basics]
Where metaphor is substitution based on similarity, or resemblance, metonymy is substitution based on contiguity. Contiguity is some connection between the thing and the metonymic replacement. Chandler, following Lakoff, gives a breakdown of kinds of metonymic substitution with examples which is something like this –
Metonymy
effect for cause “don’t get hot under the collar” for “don’t get angry”
object for user / institution “the Crown” for the monarchy, “the stage” for the theatre and “the press” for journalists
substance for form “plastic” for credit card, “lead” for bullet
property for object “the green” for grass
place for event “Chernobyl changed attitudes to nuclear power”
place for person “No. 10” for the British prime minister
place for institution “Whitehall isn’t saying anything”
institution for people “The government is not backing down”
producer for product “She owns a Picasso”
controller for controlled “Nixon bombed Hanoi”
Metonymy seems like something of a congeries compared to synecdoche, a closely related figure, which has a much neater breakdown –
Synecdoche
totum pro parte whole for part
pars pro toto part for whole
hypernymy genus for species
hyponymy species for genus
I think of metonymy and synecdoche as the “ontological” figures, featuring such typically ontological ideas as cause and effect, substance and form, properties, etc. Synecdoche clearly relates to matters of taxonomy and meronomy (partonomy), important to formal ontology. Note also that synecdoche is related to some informal logical fallacies, or argumentative ploys – the fallacies of composition, division, and generalisation. Whether substitutions of particular (or instance) for universal, or of universal for particular (or instance) fall under synecdoche, or metonymy, I will leave open.
Jakobson and two primary axes of human thought. Locke / Hume. Peirce. Index and icon. Freud. Condensation and displacement. Lacan.
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Main Sources and Works Consulted –
Myers and Simms – Longman Dictionary and Handbook of Poetry
The project began in earnest with this book, which was in my local library for reference purposes only. It was in the days before most of us, or I at least, were properly computerized, and I copied much of it out, in abbreviated form, with pencil and paper into an exercise book. Its authors chose to include many terms from antiquity, and provide useful appendices grouping the figures into categories. It still forms the core of my database.
Lanham – A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms
This gives some other terms, and is another very useful resource.
Silva Rhetoricae (website)
An excellent and rather beautiful website. Click on the link and take a look.
Leech – A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry
One of the best books I’ve read on this, or indeed any subject. My debt to it is probably clear in this work, and no doubt I will have to keep returning to it.
Plett – Literary Rhetoric
I’m still trying to get to grips with this one – the author takes systematization very seriously. Well worth a look.
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About Me
I [David Ruaune] have a background in literature, poetry and poetics, and literary theory. My academic and professional background is in English, English Literature and Education, and my main interests are literary theory, especially the Russian Formalist, Structuralist and New Critical perspectives, philosophy, particularly philosophy of mind and cognition, and theories of creativity.
As an outgrowth of my interest in literary theory, I became fascinated with uncovering the wealth of insight within the classical terminology of rhetoric, and developed an interest in converging on the most rational classification system for the various devices. Initially this was done with pencil and paper, but I later compiled the data into a database. This page is part of that ongoing project.
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An Outline of the Rhetoric Database
Number Range Category
1000 Syllables
1100 Deletion / Omission
1200 Addition
1300 Distortion / Rearrangement / Transposition
2000 Alteration of internality of word (?)
3000 Words
3100 Deletion / Omission
3200 Addition
3300 Distortion / Rearrangement / Transposition
3400 Parenthesis
3500 Zeugmas
4000 Repetition
4100 Rhythm
4200 Rhyme
4300 Words, Phrases
5000 Parallelism and Balance
6000 Poetic Licence
6100 Deletion
6200 Addition – Superfluity
6300 Distortion – Malapropism and Ungrammaticality
6500 Poeticisms, Euphony, etc
6800 Obscurity, Pomposity
6900 Neologism
7000 Tropes
7100 Description
7200 Contiguity – Metonymy
7300 Similarity / Dissimilarity – Metaphor
7400 Contraries / Irony
7500 Language / Puns
8000
8100 Definition
8200 Division
8300 Arrangement / Structure of Argument
8310 Ordering
8320 Beginning
8330 Amplification / Climax
8350 Digression
8390 Ending
8400 Logic
8500 Rhetorical Argument
8600 Fallacies – Formal
8700 Fallacies – Informal
8700 Fallacies of Presumption
8710 Generalisation
8730 Begging the Question (Petitio principii)
8740 False Analogy
8750 Complex Question / Ignorance / Ignoratio Elenchi
8760 False Cause / Gambler’s Fallacy
8780 Fallacies of Ambiguity
8800 Fallacies of Relevance / Emotional Appeals
8840 Argumentum ad Hominem
8850 Loaded Language / Black-and-White Fallacy
8870 Etc
9000 Testimony
9000 Example
9500 Emotional
[9700 Miscellaneous, 9750 Undefined, 9800 Duplicates, 10000 Not yet classified]
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The Core Fields from the Rhetoric Database
| Number | Figure | Description | |
| 1000 | metaplasm | moving letters or syllables from natural place generic term | |
| 1101 | synaeresis | shortening two syllables to one | |
| 1102 | elision | contraction of word or omission of final unstressed syllable in line of verse | |
| 1103 | ecthlipsis | the omission or elision of letters or syllables (often the consonant “m” and the vowel that precedes it) for the sake of poetical meter. A kind of metaplasm specific to Latin. | |
| 1104 | systole | shortening a naturally long vowel or syllable | |
| 1105 | crasis | contraction into one sound | |
| 1110 | aphaeresis | subtract syllable from beginning | |
| 1111 | syncope | subtract syllable from middle deletion of a letter in middle of a word | |
| 1112 | apocope | subtract syllable from end | |
| 1113 | abissio | the equivalent latin term for apocope | |
| 1121 | syzygy | last letter of one word next letter of following | |
| 1122 | synaloepha | omitting one of two vowels which occur together at the end of one word and the beginning of another. A contraction of neighboring syllables. A kind of metaplasm. | |
| 1123 | synalepha | eliding first of two adjacent vowels | |
| 1214 | prosthesis | add syllable to beginning | |
| 1215 | epenthesis | add syllable to middle | |
| 1216 | proparalepsis | add syllable to end | |
| 1217 | paragoge | the addition of a letter or syllable to the end of a word. A kind of metaplasm. | |
| 1218 | diastole | lengthening a syllable or vowel usually short | |
| 1300 | metathesis | transposition or interchange in the position of letters (in a word), syllables or sounds. like spoonerism but historical or transposition of words in a sentence | |
| 1301 | Spoonerism | the interchange of the initial letters of two words, usually as a slip of the tongue. | |
| 1330 | antisthecon | change of sound | |
| 1351 | acrostic | when the first letters of successive lines are arranged either in alphabetical order (= abecedarian) or in such a way as to spell a word | |
| 2001 | tmesis | separate elements of a compound word | |
| 2002 | diacope | separation of elements of compound word by another word or words | |
| 2005 | agnominatio | repetition of a word with change in letter or sound | |
| 3022 | articulus | roughly equivalent to “phrase” in English, except that the emphasis is on joining several phrases (or words) successively without any conjunctions (in which case articulus is simply synonymous with the Greek term asyndeton). See also brachylogia. | |
| 3110 | anacoluthon | part of sentence or message incomplete | |
| 3111 | ellipsis (ellipse) (eclipsis) | words left out of sentence, easily inferred | |
| 3112 | brachylogia | omission of conjunctions between words or phrases | |
| 3113 | scesis onomaton | omission of the verb | |
| 3114 | anapodoton | omission of clause from sentence | |
| 3115 | asyndeton | omission of conjunctions between related clauses | |
| 3116 | acervatio | Latin term Quintilian employs for both asyndeton (“acervatio dissoluta” a loose heap) and polysyndeton (“acervatio iuncta “a conjoined heap). | |
| 3221 | polysyndeton | deliberate use of many conjunctions. Leads to slowing of rhythm. | |
| 3300 | hyperbaton | transposition of words or clauses from their natural order. Within this broad category are included i) anastrophe, ii) hysteron proteron; iii) chiasmus; iv) tmesis. (A Figure of Syntax). | |
| 3301 | metathesis | transposition of words in a sentence | |
| 3302 | inversion | reversing normal word order | |
| 3303 | anastrophe | reversal of normal word order unusual arrangement of words or clauses within a sentence | |
| 3304 | synchysis | The confused arrangement of words in a sentence. Hyperbaton or anastrophe taken to an obscuring extreme, either accidentally or purposefully. | |
| 3305 | synchisis | word order of sentence confused | |
| 3306 | poiciologia | awkward ungrammatical speech | |
| 3310 | cacosyntheton | placing adjectives after nouns | |
| 3312 | hysteriologia | reorganize prepositional phrase | |
| 3313 | acaloutha | substitution of reciprocal words, replacing one word for another. opposite of anacoloutha | |
| 3314 | anacoloutha | substituting one word with another whose meaning is very close to the original, but in a non-reciprocal fashion; that is, one could not use the first, original word as a substitute for the second. This is the opposite of acoloutha. | |
| 3380 | hypallage | reorganize word order to pervert sense | |
| 3381 | transferred epithet | hypallage : (Figure of Syntax). Also known as transferred epithet. The grammatical agreement of a word with another word which it does not logically qualify. A very common figure in poetry. | |
| 3383 | chiasmus | reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses | |
| 3384 | commutatio | order of first clause reversed in second | |
| 3391 | enallage | case, number, gender, mood or tense transformed | |
| 3392 | alleotheta | substitution of one case, gender, mood, number, tense, or person for another. Synonymous with enallage.Peacham makes alleotheta the general category that includes antiptosis and all forms of enallage. | |
| 3393 | antiptosis | a type of enallage in which one grammatical case is substituted for another.Note: In English, this is apparent only with pronouns, unlike in inflected languages (Greek, Latin, German, etc.) | |
| 3394 | anthypallage | change of grammar case for emphasis | |
| 3395 | anthimeria | word as one part of speech exchanged for another | |
| 3396 | hendiadys | links up substantives or substantive and genitive by using the conjunction ‘and’ | |
| 3397 | hendyadis | [alternative spelling of hendyadis?] | |
| 3398 | hysteron proteron | reverse time sequence | |
| 3415 | parenthesis | tangential thought Insertion of a verbal unit that interrupts normal syntactical flow. | |
| 3416 | parathesis | same as parenthesis? | |
| 3417 | parembole | a figure of interruption closely related to parenthesis. Parembole occurs when the interrupting matter has a connection to the sentence subject, whereas the interrupting material of parenthesis need have no such connection. | |
| 3540 | zeugma | the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words usually in such a manner that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one | |
| 3541 | adnexio | Latin term for zeugma. | |
| 3542 | syllepsis | like zeugma but utility word grammatically agrees with only its nearest object and is used in two different senses | |
| 3543 | diazeugma | one noun applied to more than one verb | |
| 3550 | epizeugma | placing the verb that holds together the entire sentence (made up of multiple parts that depend upon that verb) either at the very beginning or the very ending of that sentence. | |
| 3551 | prozeugma | verb in one clause understood to apply in succeeding clauses | |
| 3552 | mesozeugma | key verb placed in middle of a sentence linking preceding and subsequent sentences | |
| 3553 | synzeugma | kind of zeugma in which a verb joins (and governs) two phrases by coming between them. A synonym for mesozeugma | |
| 3554 | conjunctio | term given by the Ad Herennium author for synzeugma. Not to be confused with the part of speech having the same name, conjunctio (a conjunction). | |
| 3555 | hypozeugma | utility word of a sentence placed in last line or section | |
| 4100 | rhythm | ordered recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of sound and silence in speech | |
| 4102 | accentual-syllabic verse | the metrical system that is most commonly used in English poetry. It is based on both the number of stresses, or accents, and the number of syllables in each line of verse | |
| 4104 | accentual verse | a fixed number of stresses per line or stanza regardless of the number of syllables that are present | |
| 4106 | syllabic verse | a fixed number of syllables per line or stanza regardless of the number of stresses that are present | |
| 4108 | running rhythm | structure is based on repeating groups of two or three syllables, with the stressed syllable falling in the same place on each repetition | |
| 4110 | sprung rhythm | structured around feet with a variable number of syllables, generally between one and four syllables per foot, with the stress always falling on the first syllable in a foot | |
| 4112 | counterpoint | musical technique involving the simultaneous sounding of separate musical lines. can be metaphorically applied to poetic rhythm | |
| 4114 | quantitative meter | meter that relies not on the alternation of heavily stressed or lightly stressed syllables, but rather on the alternation of “long syllables” and “short syllables” | |
| 4120 | meter | rhythmic pattern of stresses recurring in a poem. Metrical patterns are determined by the type and number of feet in a line of verse; combining the name of a line length with the name of a foot concisely describes the meter of the line. | |
| 4122 | scansion | the process of measuring the stresses in a line of verse in order to determine the metrical pattern of the line. | |
| 4124 | accent | The emphasis, or stress, given a syllable in pronunciation. | |
| 4126 | stressed | emphasis given to a syllable in pitch, volume or duration (or several of these). | |
| 4128 | unstressed | lack of emphasis given to a syllable in pitch, volume or duration (or several of these). | |
| 4130 | foot | The metrical unit by which a line of poetry is measured. A foot usually consists of one stressed and one or two unstressed syllables. | |
| 4132 | iamb | a metrical pattern of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable | |
| 4134 | trochee | a metrical pattern of one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable. | |
| 4136 | spondee | a metrical pattern of two or more successively-placed stressed syllables. | |
| 4138 | pyrrhic | a metrical pattern of two short syllables. It is also known as a dibrach | |
| 4139 | dibrach | another term for a pyrrhic | |
| 4140 | anapest | two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable | |
| 4142 | dactyl | a metrical pattern consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables | |
| 4144 | amphibrach | three-syllable foot in English – unstressed, stressed, unstressed | |
| 4147 | iambic pentameter | a metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line. | |
| 4148 | blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter | |
| 4149 | alexandrine | a line of twelve syllables, often with a caesura between the sixth and seventh syllables. Alternatively, an alexandrine may be divided into three four-syllable sections by two caesuras | |
| 4152 | metrical pause | a pause that supplies the place of an expected accented syllable. Unlike grammatical and rhetorical pauses, metrical pauses affect scansion. | |
| 4153 | caesura | a pause within a line of poetry that contributes to the rhythm of the line. | |
| 4154 | acephalous line | a metrical line whos first syllable is missing | |
| 4155 | end-stopping | a poetic line that has a pause at the end. | |
| 4156 | enjambement | in poetry, when one line ends without a pause and continues into the next line for its meaning. | |
| 4157 | hypermetrical | having a redundant syllable; exceeding the usual measure | |
| 4158 | anacrusis | lead-in syllables that precede the first full measure | |
| 4159 | syllaba anceps | metrical term? The last syllable of a verse may be short in itself; if it is short, it is regarded as long, because a spondee is required in the last foot. Such a syllable is known as the syllaba anceps (“doubtful syllable”). | |
| 4187 | topos | a standardised method of constructing or treating an argument | |
| 4200 | rhyme | correspondence of terminal sounds of words or of lines of verse | |
| 4201 | rime riche | rhyme using words or parts of words that are pronounced identically but have different meanings, for example, write-right or port-deport. | |
| 4202 | masculine rhyme | rhyming of single-syllable words. Masculine rhyme also occurs where rhyming words of more than one syllable, when the same sound occurs in a final stressed syllable, defend and contend, betray and away | |
| 4204 | feminine rhyme | feminine rhyme consists of a rhymed stressed syllable followed by one or more identical unstressed syllables, | |
| 4210 | eye rhyme | similarity in spelling between words that are pronounced differently and hence, not an auditory rhyme. | |
| 4212 | paromoiosis | parallelism of sounds | |
| 4213 | parechesis | repetition of the same sound in words in close succession | |
| 4214 | assonance | the repetition of the same sound in words close to each other. | |
| 4215 | alliteration | repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words | |
| 4216 | paroemion | alliteration taken to an extreme where nearly every word in a sentence begins with the same consonant. Sometimes, simply a synonym for alliteration or for homoeoprophoron. | |
| 4217 | parimion | alliteration where every word in phrase or sentence begins with the same consonant | |
| 4218 | half-rhyme | rhyme in which the final consonant sounds of two (or more) words are the same, but the initial consonants (if there are any) and the vowel sounds are different. | |
| 4219 | near rhyme | (also called off rhyme, slant rhyme, and approximate rhyme), form of rhyme where the sounds are almost but not exactly alike | |
| 4220 | consonance | common form of near rhyme which consists of identical consonant sounds preceded by different vowel soundshome, same; worth, breath | |
| 4221 | pararhyme | half-rhyme, consonance | |
| 4253 | homeoteleuton | similar sounding suffixes at end of clause | |
| 4254 | homoioteleuton | using words having the same or similar ending sounds in a sentence or phrase | |
| 4255 | homoioptoton | the repetition of similar case endings in adjacent words or in words in parallel position. | |
| 4270 | form | the overall structure or shape of a work, which frequently follows an established design. Forms may refer to a literary type (narrative form, short story form) or to patterns of meter, lines, and rhymes (stanza form, verse form). | |
| 4271 | rhyme scheme | the pattern of rhyming lines in a poem or in lyrics for music. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme | |
| 4275 | stanza | a unit within a poem, often called a verse. | |
| 4276 | strophe | a pair of stanzas of alternating form on which the structure of a given poem is based | |
| 4277 | leonine rhyme | verse using internal rhyme in which the middle and end of each line rhyme. | |
| 4278 | monorhyme | a poem in which all the lines have the same end rhyme | |
| 4281 | couplet | two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme and have the same meter. A heroic couplet is a couplet written in rhymed iambic pentameter. | |
| 4282 | quatrain | a stanza or poem of four lines | |
| 4287 | sonnet | a fixed form of lyric poetry that consists of fourteen lines, usually written in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme of the English or Shakespearean sonnet (abab cdcd efef gg) is different from the Italian. | |
| 4289 | rhyme royal | the rhyme royal stanza consists of seven lines, usually in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-b-c-c. | |
| 4290 | terza rima | a three-line stanza form with interlocking rhymes that move from one stanza to the next. The typical pattern is ABA, BCB, CDC, DED, and so on | |
| 4291 | ottava rima | 8-line stanzas rhyming abababcc | |
| 4295 | free verse | also called open form poetry, free verse refers to poems characterized by their nonconformity to established patterns of meter, rhyme, and stanza. | |
| 4300 | conduplicatio | the repetition of a word or words. A general term for repetition sometimes carrying the more specific meaning of repetition of words in adjacent phrases or clauses. Sometimes used to name either ploce or epizeuxis. | |
| 4301 | repetend | a word, sound or phrase repeated; a refrain | |
| 4302 | epimone | repeat same words or use refrain | |
| 4303 | chorus (refrain?) | phrase, verse, or group of verses repeated at intervals throughout a song or poem, especially at the end of each stanza | |
| 4304 | paregmenon | a general term for the repetition of a word or its cognates in a short sentence. Often, but not always, polyptoton. | |
| 4305 | epanaphora | repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses (also called anaphora) |
|
| 4306 | palilogia | repetition of the same word, with none between, for vehemence. Synonym for epizeuxis. | |
| 4307 | epizeuxis | word repeated with vehemence or emphasis | |
| 4308 | hypozeuxis | repetition of key verb or noun throughout series of clauses | |
| 4309 | antimetabole | repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order | |
| 4310 | epanalepsis | repetition at end of clause of word that occurred at beginning | |
| 4311 | anadiplosis | repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause | |
| 4312 | anaphora (epanaphora) | repetition of word or phrase at the beginning of lines, clauses or sentences | |
| 4313 | repetitio | Latin equivalent for anaphora or Latin equivalent for epanalepsis. Note: This should not be confused with repetition in general, which manifests itself in a variety of ways across the spectrum of rhetoric. | |
| 4314 | mesarchia | the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning and middle of successive sentences. | |
| 4315 | mesodiplosis | repetition of the same word or words in the middle of successive sentences. | |
| 4316 | antistrophe | also called epiphora. Repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses. | |
| 4317 | epiphora | antistrophe | |
| 4318 | epistrophe | repeat same word or phrase at end of clauses or sentences | |
| 4319 | conversio | Latin term for epistrope. | |
| 4320 | symploce (complexio) | combination of anaphora and epistrophe. repetition of first and last words | |
| 4321 | adjunct | an alternate term for symploce. Not to be confused with the topic of invention | |
| 4322 | coenotes | repetition of two different phrases: one at the beginning and the other at the end of successive paragraphs. | |
| 4350 | polyptoton | repetition of words derived from same root | |
| 4351 | diacope | repetition using various semantic senses of a word for effect | |
| 4352 | repotia | the repetition of a phrase with slight differences in style, diction, tone, etc. or A discourse celebrating a wedding feast. | |
| 4353 | tautology | the repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence. | |
| 4354 | tautologia | the repetition of the same idea in different words, but (often) in a way that is wearisome or unnecessary. Note: Not to be confused with the logical notion of tautology. |
|
| 4355 | overrepetition | 0 | |
| 4356 | pleonasm | superfluity | |
| 4357 | pleonasmus | pleonasm superfluity | |
| 4358 | parelcon | addition of superfluous words | |
| 4359 | elegant variation | phrase coined by Henry W. Fowler to refer to the unnecessary use of synonyms | |
| 4360 | battologia | vain repetition. A vice. | |
| 4361 | macrologia | longwindedness. Using more words than are necessary in an attempt to appear eloquent. | |
| 4362 | homiologia | tedious and unpleasant dragging out of a story. shaggy dog | |
| 4363 | otiose | 1: Lazy; indolent. 2: Of no use. 3: Ineffective; futile vain | |
| 4364 | periphrasis | roundabout expression for single word or proper name | |
| 5000 | parallelism | similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases or clauses equivalent things in co-ordinate grammatical structures | |
| 5001 | metabasis | balanced and parallel clauses e.g. from past to present to future | |
| 5002 | isocolon | parallelism where similarity not only of structure but of length in words or even syllables | |
| 5010 | tricolon | division into three | |
| 5020 | membrum | roughly equivalent to “clause” in English, except that the emphasis is on seeing this part of a sentence as needing completion, either with a second membrum (or colon) or with two others forming a tricolon. | |
| 5021 | period | the periodic sentence, characterized by the suspension of the completion of sense until its end. This has been more possible and favored in Greek and Latin, | |
| 5022 | irmus | last part of sentence completes sense | |
| 5023 | paraprosdokian | a surprise or unexpected ending of a phrase or series. | |
| 5031 | parison | series of equally constructed clauses that effect a sense of grace | |
| 5032 | perissologia | extraneous clause added to sentence to supply grace. No new sense. | |
| 5050 | antithesis | juxtapose opposite ideas of similar grammatical constructions balance of tensions achieved | |
| 5051 | contentio | Latin term for antithesis Latin term for antitheton |
|
| 5055 | antimetathesis | inversion of the members of an antithesis. | |
| 5060 | euphuism | elaborate prose style making use of balance and antithesis | |
| 6100 | brevitas | concise expression | |
| 6301 | acyrologia | inexact or illogical word – malapropism | |
| 6302 | cacozelon | malapropism, botched attempt to appear learned | |
| 6303 | malapropism | ludicrous misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of similar sound | |
| 6304 | acyron | words with meaning opposite to intended | |
| 6305 | amphilogia | word or expression with ambiguous or disputed meaning | |
| 6306 | ambiguous | term given by George Puttenham for amphibologia. or The vice of ambiguity. | |
| 6307 | amphibologia / amphiboly | ambiguity caused by either grammatical looseness or multiple meanings of words | |
| 6308 | solecism | an element of speech or writing that is incorrect grammatically. Like barbarisms, solecisms are possible according to each of the four categories of change. |
|
| 6309 | solecismus | an element of speech or writing that is incorrect grammatically. Like barbarisms, solecisms are possible according to each of the four categories of change. |
|
| 6310 | anoiconometon | improper arrangement of words | |
| 6500 | cadence | rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds in language | |
| 6501 | euphony | effect produced by words or sounds so combined and uttered as to please the ear | |
| 6502 | amphigory | verse with little or no sense but mellifluous | |
| 6505 | cacophony | a harsh sequence of sounds. | |
| 6801 | archaism | the use of an older or obsolete form of a word. | |
| 6802 | cacozelia | use of classical language, especially Greek or Latin, to impress | |
| 6803 | barbarism | misuse of normal grammatical rules or mixing of two languages to form a word | |
| 6804 | barbarismus | use of nonstandard or foreign speech (see cacozelia) | |
| 6805 | soriasmus | to mingle different languages affectedly or without skill. | |
| 6806 | graecismus | using Greek words, examples, or grammatical structures. Sometimes considered an affectation of erudition. | |
| 6807 | hebraism | a linguistic feature typical of Hebrew occurring especially in another language | |
| 6808 | asiatismus | 0 | |
| 6811 | Matinism | 0 | |
| 6812 | Gongorism | deliberately obscure, meaningless, and affected ornamental style | |
| 6813 | flourish | florid bit of speech or writing | |
| 6814 | skotison | purposeful obscurity. | |
| 6821 | bombast | pompous or pretentious speech or writing | |
| 6822 | bomphiologia | exaggeration done in a self-aggrandizing manner, as a braggart. | |
| 6850 | periergia | overuse of words or figures of speech. As such, it may simply be considered synonymous with macrologia. However, as Puttenham’s term suggests, periergia may differ from simple superfluity in that the language appears over-labored. | |
| 6860 | aschematiston | unpoetic, cliched | |
| 6900 | neologism | newly-invented word or term | |
| 6901 | nonce word | word or phrase coined for specific work or occasion. Neologism. | |
| 6905 | portmanteau | combination of two or more words to create a new word | |
| 7010 | onomatopoeia | the use of words to imitate natural sounds; accommodation of sound to sense. | |
| 7020 | energia | a general term referring to the “energy” or vigor of a expression.Note: Energia is easily confused with enargia, vivid description (energia is not necessarily visual, and not necessarily descriptive). | |
| 7025 | descriptio | although descriptio is most often synonymous with enargia, the Ad Herennium author further specifies that it contains an exposition of the consequences of an act. | |
| 7100 | mimesis | theory of art invented by Aristotle in Poetics ca350bc | |
| 7101 | ecphrasis | the (often conventional) description of a person, event, place, season, or other commonplace thing. A more narrow kind of description than the general term for this activity, enargia. Closely related to the progymnasmata exercise, description. | |
| 7102 | effiguration | elaborate, detailed description of an object or an event | |
| 7103 | pragmatographia | colourfully recounts story of fictitious event | |
| 7106 | epithet | adjective or adjectival phrase characterising person or thing | |
| 7107 | epitheton | epithet adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic | |
| 7108 | antonomasia | replace proper name with most obvious quality or aspect or one whose name is a symbol | |
| 7109 | ampliatio | using the name of something or someone before it has obtained that name or after the reason for that name has ceased. A form of epitheton. | |
| 7110 | sobriquet | nichname or assumed name | |
| 7120 | characterismus | description of body and / or mind of a character | |
| 7121 | prosopographia | description of person’s appearance, personality, social and family connections, career | |
| 7122 | prosographia | vividly describe someone not present as if present | |
| 7123 | enargia | vivid description of someone absent | |
| 7124 | effictio | a verbal depiction of someone’s body, often from head to toe.Note: This figure was used in forensic rhetoric for purposes of clearly identifying an alleged criminal. It has often been adapted to poetical uses. | |
| 7125 | ethopoeia | genre of poetry vividly characterising someone mind, habits, or vices | |
| 7126 | hypotyposis | description of imaginative and fictional character, object or scene | |
| 7127 | chreia | the progymnasmata exercise, chreia. a brief reminiscence referring to some person in a pithy form for the purpose of edification. or Employing an anecdote which relates a saying or deed of someone well known. | |
| 7130 | dialogismus | speaking in another man’s person | |
| 7131 | sermocinatio | dialogismus. representation of fictional speech with imagined persons | |
| 7140 | personification | the attribution of personality to an impersonal thing. | |
| 7141 | prosopopoeia | like personification vivid and imaginative description lends human qualities to abstraction or animate or inanimate object | |
| 7142 | pathetic fallacy | the attribution of human emotions or characteristics to inanimate objects or to nature | |
| 7143 | animism | attribution of soul to inanimate objects | |
| 7144 | anthropopatheia | ascribing human attributes to God. | |
| 7145 | inanimism | opposite of animism | |
| 7146 | antiprosopopoeia | the representation of persons as inanimate objects. | |
| 7150 | topographia (typographia) | description of a place. A kind of enargia. | |
| 7151 | geographia | vivid representation of the earth to create an illusion of reality. | |
| 7152 | chorographia | description and mapping of regions or districts | |
| 7153 | ecographia | 0 | |
| 7154 | typographia (topographia) | re-creation of once existing places landscape, local colour, mindscape, topographical poem, topothesia and triggering town | |
| 7155 | chronographia | creation of era or milieu through words | |
| 7156 | topothesia | creation of fictitious place | |
| 7157 | hydrographia | surveying and charting bodies of water | |
| 7161 | anemographia | creating an illusion of reality through description of the wind. A type of enargia. | |
| 7162 | dendrographia | creating an illusion of reality through vivid description of a tree. Creating an illusion of reality through vivid description of a tree. Creating an illusion of reality through vivid description of a tree. |
|
| 7163 | astrothesia | a vivid description of stars. One type of enargia. | |
| 7180 | anacreontics | melodious verse of love or wine | |
| 7200 | metonymy | subject for characteristic(s), characteristic(s) for subject 1)effect for cause 2)object for user 3)substance for form 4)place for event 5)place for person 6)place for institution 7)institution for people 8)producer for product 9)controller fo controlled | |
| 7250 | synecdoche | part for whole 1)general for specific 2)specific for general 3)part for whole 4)material for object made from it | |
| 7260 | hyponymy | synecdoche substituting genus for species | |
| 7270 | hypernymy | synecdoche substituting species for genus | |
| 7305 | comparatio | a general term for a comparison, either as a figure of speech or as an argument. More specific terms are generally employed, such as metaphor, simile, allegory, etc. | |
| 7314 | catachresis | use of word from one dimension of meaning in another | |
| 7315 | abusio | catachresis | |
| 7316 | abuse | anglicisation of abusio (catachresis) or rhetorical vices or positive sense of employing word in a sense at odds with original use (see metaphor or trope) | |
| 7317 | simile | an explicit comparison between two things (usually using coordinated clauses, which are often introduced by ut … sic). | |
| 7318 | epic simile | also called a Homeric simile, is an extended comparison or cluster of similes or metaphors that are elaborated in great detail | |
| 7321 | antapodosis | simile in which objects compared correspond in several respects | |
| 7322 | synonymia | compares series of things equal in meaning but differing in form | |
| 7323 | metaphor | an implied comparison achieved through a figurative (rather than literal) use of words. note IA Richards tenor and vehicle, and Lakoff and others, target and source | |
| 7324 | dead metaphor | metaphor in which the sense of a transferred image is not present | |
| 7325 | mixed metaphor | the mixing of two or more inconsistent metaphors | |
| 7326 | extended metaphor | metaphor that sets up a principal subject with several subsidiary comparisons | |
| 7327 | conceit | an extended metaphor. Popular during the Renaissance and typical of John Donne or John Milton. Unlike allegory, which tends to have one-to-one correspondences, a conceit typically takes one subject and explores the metaphoric possibilities | |
| 7328 | synaesthesia | term that describes language that transfers imagery from one sense to another | |
| 7330 | homoeosis | persuade through comparison of similarities 1) icon 2) paradigma 3) parable 4) fable | |
| 7331 | substitution | primary step in analogue process | |
| 7340 | icon | comparison of persons or things through imagery | |
| 7350 | paradigma | compares two well-known examples with present situation | |
| 7360 | parable | the explicit drawing of a parallel between two essentially dissimilar things, especially with a moral or didactic purpose. | |
| 7361 | parabola | the explicit drawing of a parallel between two essentially dissimilar things, especially with a moral or didactic purpose. A parable. | |
| 7370 | fable | fictional story meant to teach a moral lesson | |
| 7373 | apologue | appeasing and persuading the rude and ignorant through comparisons made in form of a fable. | |
| 7375 | allegory | a sustained metaphor continued through whole sentences or even through a whole discourse. | |
| 7377 | permutatio | sometimes simply the Latin term for allegory. However, the Ad Herennium author defines permutatio in three ways. The first of these is akin to the conventional understanding of allegory, while the other two are comparisons involving allusions. | |
| 7415 | paradox | an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that makes sense in context. | |
| 7418 | oxymoron | the apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposed use of words which seem to contradict one another. | |
| 7420 | synoeciosis | expanded paradox | |
| 7430 | irony | an expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning; i.e. the use of a word or phrase for its opposite. | |
| 7435 | antiphrasis | ironic use of one word or phrase sigifying opposite of lexical meaning | |
| 7436 | enantiosis | irony using opposites, often in different clauses | |
| 7440 | hyperbole | exaggeration or obvious overstatement for comic or dramatic effect | |
| 7445 | adynaton | a declaration of impossibility, usually in terms of an exaggerated comparison. Sometimes, the expression of the impossibility of expression. | |
| 7460 | meiosis | word of lesser degree for one of greater degree. humourous and ironic understatement | |
| 7462 | tapinosis | giving a name to something which diminishes it in importance. A kind of meiosis. | |
| 7463 | understatement | intentional representation of something as less than it is, either for ironic emphasis or for politeness and tact | |
| 7464 | litotes | deliberate understatement, especially when expressing a thought by denying its opposite. | |
| 7465 | antenantiosis | see litotes | |
| 7466 | anticlimax | a bathetic declension from a noble tone to a less exalted one-often for comic effect. | |
| 7467 | bathos | a ludicrous descent from the elevated to the low, in writing or speech; anticlimax originally used by Pope in his comic essay | |
| 7471 | satire | 1: a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn 2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly | |
| 7472 | parody | literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule | |
| 7473 | lampoon | harsh satire usually directed against an individual | |
| 7501 | noema | jest, pun or riddle lies in dialectic of speech rather than a single word or phrase | |
| 7502 | enigma | riddle that intends to obscure rather than reveal | |
| 7503 | pun | usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound | |
| 7505 | ploce | repetition usually of a proper name with different meanings. see paradox | |
| 7515 | paronomasia | pun creating ambiguity from similar-sounding words or by changing a letter in a previously stated word | |
| 7516 | prosonomasia | see paronomasia | |
| 7517 | adnominatio | a synonym for paronomasia. or A synonym for polyptoton. or Assigning to a proper name its literal or homophonic meaning. | |
| 7520 | double entendre | a word or phrase having a double meaning, especially when the second meaning is risqué | |
| 7525 | adianoeta | an expression that, in addition to an obvious meaning, carries a second, subtle meaning (often at variance with the ostensible meaning). | |
| 7530 | equivoque | double entendre with two different or discordant meanings | |
| 7537 | cacemphaton | scurrilous jest, lewd allusion or double entendre | |
| 7538 | aeschrologia | another term for cacemphaton. | |
| 7539 | aischrologia | another term for cacemphaton. | |
| 7540 | asteismus | witty use of relation of words to each other and to reality. Purposeful misunderstanding. facetious or mocking… | |
| 7560 | antistasis | the repetition of a word in a contrary sense. Often, simply synonymous with antanaclasis. | |
| 7561 | antanaclasis | word obtains two or more meanings when repeated calls attention to word’s origins or sound values | |
| 7570 | distinctio | specific reference to various meanings of a word | |
| 7571 | distinction | argument based on meaning or notation of a word | |
| 7572 | metallage | when a word or phrase is treated as an object within another expression. | |
| 7573 | correctio | 1: correcting word or phrase used previously 2: preparing an audience to hear something unpleasant | |
| 7574 | metanoia | qualifying a statement by recalling it and expressing it in a different way | |
| 7575 | appositio | addition of an adjacent, coordinate, explanatory or descriptive element. | |
| 7576 | apposition | placing side by side of two co-ordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first | |
| 7577 | epexegesis | addition of words to clarify meaning | |
| 7580 | isodunamia | to add, remove or double a negative in words which mean the opposite | |
| 7581 | aequipollentia | to add, remove or double a negative in words which mean the opposite | |
| 8100 | taxis | to divide a subject up into its various components or attributes. Expresses the most salient features of things | |
| 8101 | distribution | use a term to include every individual of the class to which it refers | |
| 8102 | systrophe | conglomerate definition composed of descriptions from diverse classes | |
| 8150 | horismus | term defined through elaboration | |
| 8151 | diaphora | repetition using a word in general sense then in qualifying sense | |
| 8155 | peristasis | defines thing or person through circumstance | |
| 8156 | diaskeue | graphic peristasis (description of circumstances) intended to arouse the emotions. | |
| 8200 | merismus | the dividing of a whole into its parts. | |
| 8201 | anatomy | study of the structure or internal workings | |
| 8205 | eutrepismus | naming of parts in correct logical order | |
| 8209 | distributio | assigning roles among or specifying the duties of a list of people, sometimes accompanied by a conclusion. or Sometimes this term is simply a synonym for diaeresis or merismus, which are more general figures involving division. | |
| 8210 | diaeresis (dieresis) | genus into species divide something of general nature into specific parts (has other meanings) | |
| 8250 | enumeration | subject in terms of 1)characterismus 2)circumstances leading up to 3)effect | |
| 8255 | alloiosis | breaking down subject into alternatives | |
| 8290 | congeries | disorderly collection, jumble | |
| 8295 | juxtaposition | placing two or more things side by side | |
| 8313 | catacomesis | compares and orders entities of greater, lesser and equal characteristics | |
| 8314 | catacosmesis | ordering words from greatest to least in dignity, or in correct order of time. | |
| 8315 | emphasis | give important elements important positions and adequate development also intangible quality for more concrete term | |
| 8317 | continuatio | dense, uninterrupted series of words expressing a single thought, generally a complex sentence having from two to four interdependant clauses or membra (although Aristotle allows a “simple” period). | |
| 8318 | epitrochasmus | swift movement from one statement to another | |
| 8320 | exordium | beginning or introductory part | |
| 8321 | propositio | briefly outlining what is to follow in detail | |
| 8322 | paradiegesis | an introductory narrative (often a digression) used to open a speech. | |
| 8323 | prolepsis | brief summary then parts listed in detail. (other uses of term) | |
| 8324 | anticipation | English term for prolepsis or for procatalepsis. English term for procatalepsis. |
|
| 8325 | digestion | an orderly enumeration of points to be discussed | |
| 8326 | assumptio | the introduction of a point to be considered, especially an extraneous argument. See proslepsis. | |
| 8330 | amplification | general term for all the ways an argument, an explanation, or a description can be expanded and enriched | |
| 8331 | epergesis | additional information | |
| 8332 | auxesis | building to a climax, or hyperbole, or amplification in general | |
| 8333 | climax | words phrases or clauses in order of increasing importance | |
| 8334 | exergasia | equal comparison incrementally setting down series of metaphorical equivalents similar in meaning but not in form usually climactic usually tenor has more than one vehicle | |
| 8335 | expolitio | the equivalent Latin term for exergasia. | |
| 8336 | parecbasis | greater, lesser, or equal ideas in oblique digression that intensifies argument | |
| 8337 | epanorthosis | relates what has already been stated for sake of greater or lesser comparison | |
| 8338 | progressio | advancing by steps of comparison | |
| 8339 | epanodos | general proposition followed by parts,a figure of repetition, and a figure of climax. or repetition of sentence in inverse order or return to regular thread of discourse after digression | |
| 8340 | restrictio | state general as condition then excepting part of general | |
| 8350 | digressio | a departure from logical progression in a speech. | |
| 8351 | excursus | a digression. | |
| 8355 | reditus ad propositum | return to the subject after a digression | |
| 8390 | anacephalaeosis | a recapitulation of the facts. A kind of summary employed in the peroratio. | |
| 8391 | complexio | Latin term for anacephalaeosis. Latin term for symploce. Latin term for coenotes. |
|
| 8392 | enumeratio | a synonym for anacephalaeosis. or Dividing a subject into its adjuncts, a cause into its effects, or an antecedent into its consequents. or A synonym for expeditio. | |
| 8394 | accumulatio | bringing together various points made throughout a speech and presenting them again in a forceful, climactic way. A blend of summary and climax. | |
| 8395 | symperasma | a conclusion that includes a brief summary of the foregoing. | |
| 8396 | epitasis | the addition of a concluding sentence that merely emphasizes what has already been stated. A kind of amplification. | |
| 8397 | anesis | adding a concluding sentence that diminishes the effect of what has been said previously. The opposite of epitasis. | |
| 8398 | synathroesmus | accumulates descriptive phrases or gathers previous points | |
| 8399 | epiphonema | exclamation that summarises or concludes a discourse | |
| 8420 | thesis | position or proposition that a person advances and offers to maintain by argument a proposition to be proved or one advanced without proof | |
| 8425 | synesis | also known as constructio ad sensum, or construction according to sense. The agreement of words according to logic, and not by the grammatical form; a kind of anacoluthon. | |
| 8426 | dialysis | first states major premise, then reasons, then conclusion. arguing from series of disjunctive propositions | |
| 8428 | elenchus | a logical refutation | |
| 8431 | enthymeme | form of syllogism 1) make statement followed by statement for that cause 2) poses contradictory propositions in order to refute 3) omit a major or minor premise that is implied | |
| 8432 | conclusio | term given by the Ad Herennium author for enthymeme. Not to be confused with conclusion, the English equivalent of the last part of an oration, the peroratio. | |
| 8433 | sorites | concatenated enthymemes. That is, a chain of claims and reasons which build upon one another.Sorites is sometimes seen as, and certainly can be, a logical fallacy | |
| 8435 | analogy | reason or argue from parallel cases | |
| 8437 | adjunctio | assertion in single formula of two previously asserted formulae | |
| 8440 | dialectic | the logical movement of ideas in an argument, and a major technique used by debators to undermine an opponent’s argument by stating it, then pointing out its deficiencies, and then proceeding to state the strengths of the proponent’s point of view | |
| 8442 | antilogy | a contradiction either in terms or ideas. More generally, antilogy names the basic rhetorical theory (propounded by Protagoras) that two contrary arguments may be given about everything. See in utrumque partes. | |
| 8443 | contrarium | one of two opposite statements used to prove the other | |
| 8444 | antitheton | a proof or composition constructed of contraries. | |
| 8445 | contencion | English term for antitheton. | |
| 8446 | syncoeciosis | accumulates opposite statements | |
| 8447 | syncrisis | contrasts opposing persons / things in one statement | |
| 8448 | epergesis | qualifying opposition | |
| 8449 | antanagoge | contradiction by stating something negative then balancing it with something positive balance unfavourable aspect with favourable one | |
| 8459 | antinomy | comparing one law or part of to another | |
| 8461 | deliberatio | evaluating possible courses of action | |
| 8462 | expeditio | rejection of all but one of various alternatives | |
| 8463 | epilogus | hypothetically supposes if certain events, then others follow | |
| 8464 | hypothetical proposition | shows consequences of proposed action | |
| 8471 | formal cause | self-contained identity of a thing, separates a thing from all others | |
| 8472 | material cause | first speaks of thing then of material from which it is made | |
| 8473 | efficient cause | agent and instrument linked through usage | |
| 8474 | final cause | takes into account the intention of a certain thing or person | |
| 8475 | antisagoge | antecedent and consequent linked together in logical dimension | |
| 8476 | metalepsis | under final cause. present effect from remote cause | |
| 8489 | dirimens copulatio | condition followed by greater cause or reason | |
| 8501 | hypocrisis | delivery, literally, acting | |
| 8502 | commoratio | bolster main point with disparate expressions.Dwelling on or returning to one’s strongest argument. Latin equivalent for epimone. | |
| 8503 | prosapodosis | list reasons for some purpose, not omitting, reinforcing each as spoken. usually tone of reproval or unpleasantness | |
| 8504 | aphorismus | question use of some word or phrase | |
| 8505 | apocrisis | replying to own arguments | |
| 8506 | significatio | imply more than one says | |
| 8507 | syllogismus | The use of a remark or an image which calls upon the audience to draw an obvious conclusion. Like a rhetorical enthymeme, but more compact, and frequently relying on an image. Not to be confused with the “syllogism” of formal logic (see enthymeme). | |
| 8508 | apodioxis | reject opponent’s arguments as impertinent, needless, absurd, false, or wicked. | |
| 8510 | diasyrmus | outright rejection by absurd comparison | |
| 8511 | categoria | opening the secret wickedness of one’s adversary before his face. | |
| 8512 | amphidiorthosis | hedge charge made in anger by qualification | |
| 8513 | protrope | command or promise then give reasons for doing what is commanded | |
| 8514 | koinonia | consulting with opponents or the judges | |
| 8515 | synchoresis | speaker gives his questioners leave to judge him | |
| 8516 | apostrophe | a sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person, or, personified abstraction absent or present. | |
| 8517 | prosphonesis | a synonym for apostrophe. | |
| 8518 | insinuatio | a method for securing good will within the exordium (introduction) using dissimulation and concealment | |
| 8519 | peroration | impassioned summary | |
| 8520 | dilemma | argument that offers opponent unacceptable choices | |
| 8521 | divisio | dilemma. to propose two alternatives and dismiss both | |
| 8522 | pseudomenos | argument that forces one’s adversary to lie | |
| 8530 | heterogenium | irrelevant answer to distract attention | |
| 8531 | apoplanesis | completely evade issue or question | |
| 8532 | leptologia | subtle speaking, quibbling | |
| 8533 | equivocation | fallacious form of argumentation using word of two meanings that apply to a single situation | |
| 8542 | procatalepsis | speaker undermines opponent’s argument or objection by anticipating and answering it | |
| 8543 | argumentum ex concessis | reasoning from premisses of opponent | |
| 8544 | peristrophe | converting an opponent’s argument to one’s own use | |
| 8545 | metastasis | by digression turn an opponent’s arguments back against him | |
| 8546 | paramologia | admitting a weaker point in order to make a stronger one | |
| 8547 | epitrope | speaker either ironically or sincerely gives up something an opponent wants | |
| 8548 | apophasis | hold back main reason or ironic denial | |
| 8549 | accismus | a feigned refusal of that which is earnestly desired. | |
| 8550 | epitrophe | ironical or earnest permission to opponent or disputant | |
| 8551 | paromologia | give in to gain advantage by subsequently bringing out reasons that overturn previous concession | |
| 8552 | concessio | jesting yielding | |
| 8560 | rhetorical question | the rhetorical question is usually defined as any question asked for a purpose other than to obtain the information the question asks. | |
| 8561 | erotema | question not for purpose of soliciting answer but to assert or deny something | |
| 8562 | interrogatio | primarily, interrogatio is simply the Latin term for erotema (the rhetorical question). In the Ad Herennium, however, interrogatio is described as employing a question as a way of confirming or reinforcing the argument one has just made. | |
| 8563 | subjectio | questioner suggests answer to his own question | |
| 8564 | sermocinatio | speaker answers remarks or questions of a pretended interlocutor | |
| 8565 | pysma | forcefully repeat many accusing questions one after another | |
| 8566 | anacoenosis | seem to ask advice or ask opinion of hearers or readers | |
| 8567 | erotesis | question boldly asserts opposite of what is asked | |
| 8568 | aporia | self-doubting argumentative soliloquy | |
| 8569 | ratiocinatio | question addressed by speaker to himself | |
| 8570 | anthypophora | arguing with self; asking questions then answering | |
| 8571 | hypophora | asking questions and answering them | |
| 8572 | hypophoria | [alternative spelling of hypophora?] | |
| 8573 | dianoea | the use of animated questions and answers in developing an argument (sometimes simply the equivalent of anthypophora). | |
| 8581 | pareuresis | refute accusation by showing premeditated reasons that are strong enough to dismiss objections to the deed | |
| 8582 | dicaeologia | excuse showing absolute necessity | |
| 8583 | anangeon | admitting what’s charged against one, but excusing it by neccessity. | |
| 8584 | proecthesis | excuse that gives good reason why one should not be blamed for transgression of authority | |
| 8585 | protherapeia | preparing one’s audience for what one is about to say through conciliating words. If what is to come will be shocking, the figure is called prodiorthosis. | |
| 8586 | prodiorthosis | a statement intended to prepare one’s audience for something shocking or offensive. An extreme example of protherapeia. | |
| 8587 | procatasceue | preparing an audience to tell them something one has done | |
| 8591 | paralipsis (paralepsis?) | emphasise point by ironically pretending to pass it by | |
| 8592 | praeteritio | also known as apophasis and paraleipsis. A pretended omission for rhetorical effect. | |
| 8593 | cataphasis | a kind of paralipsis in which one explicitly affirms the negative qualities that one then passes over. | |
| 8594 | affirmation | English equivalent for cataphasis. or English equivalent for affirmatio | |
| 8595 | proslepsis | when paralipsis (stating and drawing attention to something in the very act of pretending to pass it over) is taken to its extreme. The speaker provides full details. | |
| 8600 | logical fallacy | any common type of error of reasoning | |
| 8601 | formal fallacy | the distinction between a formal and an informal fallacy is that a formal fallacy is based solely on logical form, and an informal fallacy takes into account the non-logical content of the argument. | |
| 8602 | non sequitur | (“It does not follow”). This is the simple fallacy of stating, as a conclusion, something that does not strictly follow from the premises. | |
| 8620 | syllogistic fallacy | any non-validating form of categorical syllogism. | |
| 8621 | affirmative conclusion from a negative premise | any form of categorical syllogism with an affirmative conclusion and at least one negative premise | |
| 8622 | negative conclusion from affirmative premisses | illicit negative / affirmative | |
| 8623 | exclusive premisses | any form of categorical syllogism with two negative premisses. | |
| 8624 | two negative premisses | exclusive premisses | |
| 8625 | illicit process of the major | any form of categorical syllogism in which the major term is distributed in the conclusion, but not in the major premiss. | |
| 8626 | illicit major | any form of categorical syllogism in which the major term is distributed in the conclusion, but not in the major premiss. | |
| 8627 | illicit process of the minor | any form of categorical syllogism in which the minor term is distributed in the conclusion but not in the minor premiss. | |
| 8628 | illicit minor | any form of categorical syllogism in which the minor term is distributed in the conclusion but not in the minor premiss. | |
| 8629 | illicit negative / affirmative | any form of categorical syllogism with a negative conclusion and affirmative premisses. | |
| 8630 | quaternio terminorum | four-term fallacy | |
| 8631 | four-term fallacy | quaternio terminorum. An argument commits the Four-Term Fallacy which appears to have the form of a validating categorical syllogism, but has four terms. | |
| 8633 | undistributed middle | any form of categorical syllogism in which the middle term is not distributed at least once. | |
| 8634 | improper disjunctive syllogism | p or q. p. Therefore, not-q. | |
| 8635 | false conversion | All P are Q. Therefore, all Q are P. or Some P are not Q. Therefore, some Q are not P. | |
| 8636 | illicit conversion | false conversion. All P are Q. Therefore, all Q are P. | |
| 8640 | propositional fallacy | general term for fallacies of propositional logic | |
| 8641 | affirming a disjunct | fallacy of the following form – p or q. p.Therefore, not-q. | |
| 8642 | asserting an alternative | affirming a disjunct | |
| 8643 | alternative syllogism | affirming a disjunct | |
| 8644 | affirming the consequent | If p then q. q. Therefore, p. | |
| 8645 | asserting the consequent | affirming the consequent | |
| 8646 | commutation of conditionals | If p then q. Therefore, if q then p. | |
| 8647 | converting a conditional | commutation of conditionals | |
| 8648 | fallacy of the consequent | commutation of conditionals | |
| 8649 | denying a conjunct | Not both p and q. Not p. Therefore, q. | |
| 8650 | fallacy of the disjunctive syllogism | denying a conjunct | |
| 8651 | denial of the antecedent | If p then q. Not-p. Therefore, not-q. | |
| 8652 | denying the antecedent | denial of the antecedent | |
| 8653 | improper transposition | If p then q. Therefore, if not-p then not-q. | |
| 8654 | negating antecedent and consequent | improper transposition | |
| 8660 | quantificational fallacy | general term for fallacies of quantificational logic | |
| 8661 | existential fallacy | any argument whose conclusion implies that a class has at least one member, but whose premisses do not so imply. | |
| 8663 | illicit quantifier shift | Every P bears the relation R to some Q. Therefore, some Q bears the inverse of relation R to every P. | |
| 8664 | quantifier-shift fallacy | illicit quantifier shift | |
| 8665 | some are / some are not | Some S are P. Therefore, some S are not P. | |
| 8666 | unwarranted contrast | some are / some are not | |
| 8670 | modal fallacy | formal fallacies in which modality plays a role in the fallaciousness of a type of argument | |
| 8671 | modal scope fallacy | modal scope fallacy occurs when amphiboly over whether a modality has broad or narrow scope is exploited | |
| 8675 | illicit substitution of identicals | also known as masked man fallacy. a = b. Ca (where C is an intensional context). Therefore, Cb. | |
| 8680 | argumentum ad logicam | to say that an argument is fallacious is to claim that there is no sufficiently strong logical connection between the premisses and the conclusion. This says nothing about the truth-value of the conclusion. | |
| 8681 | fallacist’s fallacy / fallacy fallacy | argumentum ad logicam | |
| 8682 | bad reasons fallacy | argument A for the conclusion C is unsound. Therefore, C is false. | |
| 8700 | informal fallacy | an informal fallacy is one that is not formal, that is, it is a type of fallacy in which the content of the argument is relevant to its fallaciousness, or which is fallacious for epistemological, dialectical, or pragmatic reasons. | |
| 8710 | fallacy of presumption | unsound arguments involving unfounded or unproven assumptions contained within the premises. Includes begging the question, argument from ignorance, false cause, generalisation, complex question and ignoratio elenchi. | |
| 8711 | dicto simpliciter | A dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid. Sweeping generalisation. | |
| 8712 | fallacy of accident | A dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid | |
| 8713 | sweeping generalisation | A dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid | |
| 8714 | hasty generalisation | fallacy committed when a person draws a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not large enough | |
| 8715 | converse accident | hasty generalisation | |
| 8716 | biased sample | fallacy committed when a person draws a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is biased or prejudiced in some manne | |
| 8717 | unrepresentative sample | biased sample | |
| 8718 | misleading vividness | a fallacy in which a very small number of particularly dramatic events are taken to outweigh a significant amount of statistical evidence | |
| 8719 | spotlight | committed when a person uncritically assumes that all members or cases of a certain class or type are like those that receive the most attention or coverage in the media | |
| 8720 | Volvo fallacy | when the vividness of a recent memory, or the strikingness of an unusual event, leads one to overestimate the probability of events of that type occurring, especially if you have better evidence | |
| 8725 | fallacy of significance | an assertion which seems to have an importance to the point at issue, but which does not. | |
| 8726 | fallacy of emphasis or accent | incorrect emphasis of the words in a sentence. Improper stress is placed on some portion of a premise or conclusion so the meaning of the argument is distorted. | |
| 8730 | petitio principii | (begging the question). This is the fallacy of assuming, when trying to prove something, what it is that you are trying prove. For all practical purposes, this fallacy is indistinguishable from circular argumentation. | |
| 8731 | circulus in demonstrando | (circular argument). Circular argumentation occurs when someone uses what they are trying to prove as part of the proof of that thing. | |
| 8732 | circular argument | circulus in demonstrando | |
| 8733 | circulus in probando | circulus in demonstrando | |
| 8734 | vicious circle | begging the question | |
| 8735 | begging the question | also known as petitio principii, circulus in probando, circular argument, vicious circle | |
| 8736 | question-begging analogy | an analogical argument begs the question when the strength of the analogy depends upon some controversial point at issue. | |
| 8740 | weak analogy | A is like B. B has property P. Therefore, A has property P. (Where the analogy between A and B is weak.) | |
| 8741 | faulty analogy | weak analogy | |
| 8742 | questionable analogy | weak analogy | |
| 8743 | false analogy | weak analogy | |
| 8750 | plurium interrogationum | many questions | |
| 8751 | many questions | plurium interrogationum: “many questions”, Latin complex question | |
| 8752 | complex question | a complex question is a question that implicitly assumes something to be true by its construction | |
| 8753 | loaded question | complex question | |
| 8755 | argumentum ad ignorantiam | (argument to ignorance). This is the fallacy of assuming something is true simply because it hasn’t been proven false. | |
| 8756 | argument from ignorance | also known as Argumentum ad Ignorantiam. There is no evidence against p. Therefore, p. | |
| 8757 | ignoratio elenchi | (“ignorance of refutation”, Latin) red herring | |
| 8758 | red herring | introducing irrelevant facts or arguments to distract from the question at hand | |
| 8759 | irrelevant thesis | ignorantio elenchi, red herring | |
| 8760 | non causa pro causa | false cause | |
| 8761 | false cause | non causa pro causa. This is the most general fallacy of reasoning to conclusions about causality. | |
| 8762 | cum hoc ergo propter hoc | (with this, therefore because of this). This is the familiar fallacy of mistaking correlation for causation — i.e., thinking that because two things occur simultaneously, one must be a cause of the other. | |
| 8763 | post hoc ergo propter hoc | (after this, therefore because of this). This is the fallacy of assuming that A caused B simply because A happened prior to B. | |
| 8764 | post hoc | a fallacy with the following form: A occurs before B. Therefore A is the cause of B. | |
| 8765 | confusing cause and effect | a fallacy that has the following general form: A and B regularly occur together. Therefore A is the cause of B. | |
| 8766 | ignoring a common cause | fallacy having the following general structure: A and B are regularly connected (but no third, common cause is looked for). Therefore A is the cause of B. | |
| 8767 | questionable cause | this fallacy has the following general form: A and B are associated on a regular basis. Therefore A is the cause of B. | |
| 8770 | gambler’s fallacy | a fallacy committed when a person assumes that a departure from what occurs on average or in the long term will be corrected in the short term | |
| 8771 | Monte Carlo fallacy | gambler’s fallacy | |
| 8772 | regression / regressive fallacy | the regression fallacy occurs when one mistakes regression to the mean for a causal relationship. | |
| 8773 | Texas Sharpshooter fallacy | this fallacy occurs when someone jumps to the conclusion that a cluster in some data must be the result of a cause, usually one that it is clustered around. | |
| 8780 | fallacy of ambiguity | as a logical fallacy, ambiguity occurs when linguistic ambiguity causes the form of an argument to appear validating when it is not. Includes equivocation, amphiboly, composition and division. | |
| 8781 | ambiguous middle | any valid form of categorical syllogism with an ambiguous middle term. | |
| 8782 | accent | ambiguity by accents used to indicate pronunciation | |
| 8783 | equivocation | based on ambiguity of a word or phrase (lexical rather than grammatical) | |
| 8784 | doublespeak | equivocation | |
| 8785 | amphiboly / amphibology | ambiguity resulting from ambiguous grammar. The fallacy of Amphiboly occurs when a bad argument trades upon grammatical ambiguity to create an illusion of cogency. | |
| 8786 | scope fallacy | ambiguity based on scope. Logical terms such as “not” have a scope, that is, a part of the proposition in which they occur that they affect logically. | |
| 8787 | vagueness | the fallacy of vagueness occurs only when the appearance of soundness in an argument depends upon vagueness in its terms. | |
| 8788 | composition | a fallacy committed when a conclusion is drawn about a whole based on the features of its constituents when, in fact, no justification is provided for the inference | |
| 8789 | division | a fallacy committed when a person infers that what is true of a whole must also be true of its constituents and justification for that inference is not provided | |
| 8800 | fallacy of relevance | arguments containing premises which do not bear on the conclusions drawn in the argument. | |
| 8801 | argumentum ad populum | (argument or appeal to the public). This is the fallacy of trying to prove something by showing that the public agrees with you. | |
| 8802 | argumentum ad numerum | (argument or appeal to numbers). This fallacy is the attempt to prove something by showing how many people think that it’s true | |
| 8803 | bandwagon fallacy | the bandwagon fallacy is committed whenever one argues for an idea based upon an irrelevant appeal to its popularity. | |
| 8804 | argument by consensus | bandwagon fallacy | |
| 8805 | authority of the many | bandwagon fallacy | |
| 8806 | appeal to belief | a fallacy that has this general pattern: Most people believe that a claim, X, is true. Therefore X is true. | |
| 8807 | appeal to common practice | a fallacy with the following structure: X is a common action. Therefore X is correct/moral/justified/reasonable, etc. | |
| 8808 | argumentum ad verecundiam | (argument or appeal to authority). This fallacy occurs when someone tries to demonstrate the truth of a proposition by citing some person who agrees, even though that person may have no expertise in the given area. | |
| 8809 | ipse dixit | (“He, himself, said it”, Latin) Appeal to misleading authority | |
| 8810 | argumentum ad antiquitatem | (the argument to antiquity or tradition). This is the familiar argument that some policy, behavior, or practice is right or acceptable because “it’s always been done that way.” | |
| 8811 | appeal to novelty | a fallacy that occurs when it is assumed that something is better or correct simply because it is new | |
| 8812 | naturalistic fallacy | this is the fallacy of trying to derive conclusions about what is right or good (that is, about values) from statements of fact alone. | |
| 8813 | appeal to nature | this is the fallacy of assuming that whatever is “natural” or consistent with “nature” (somehow defined) is good, or that whatever conflicts with nature is bad. | |
| 8814 | relativist fallacy | committed when a person rejects a claim by asserting that the claim might be true for others but is not for him/her | |
| 8815 | argumentum ad consequentiam | arguing that a proposition is true because belief in it has good consequences, or that it is false because belief in it has bad consequences is often an irrelevancy. | |
| 8816 | appeal to consequences of a belief | X is true / false because if people accept / do not accept X as being true / false then there will be positive / negative consequences. Also includes wishful thinking. | |
| 8817 | wishful thinking | as a logical fallacy, wishful thinking is an argument whose premiss expresses a desire for the conclusion to be true. | |
| 8818 | argumentum ad baculum | appeal to force. The name “argumentum ad baculum” alludes to the use of a stick, or club, to beat someone. | |
| 8819 | argument from force | a technique of distraction which occurs when force, or the threat of force, is used to “win” a debate. More frequently, it is used to cover up the fact that the threatener is losing. | |
| 8820 | emotional appeal | a type of argument which attempts to arouse the emotions of its audience in order to gain acceptance of its conclusion | |
| 8821 | appeal to emotion | a fallacy with the following structure: Favorable emotions are associated with X. Therefore, X is true. | |
| 8822 | argumentum ad metum | appeal to fear. A fallacy with the following pattern: Y is presented (a claim that is intended to produce fear). Therefore claim X is true (a claim that is generally, but need not be, related to Y in some manner). | |
| 8823 | appeal to fear | argumentum ad metum | |
| 8824 | argumentum ad odium | appeal to hatred | |
| 8825 | argument from hatred | also known as Argumentum ad Odium | |
| 8826 | argumentum ad misericordiam | argument or appeal to pity | |
| 8827 | appeal to spite | a fallacy in which spite is substituted for evidence when an “argument” is made against a claim | |
| 8828 | argumentum ad superbium | appeal to pride | |
| 8829 | argument from pride | also known as Argumentum ad Superbium | |
| 8830 | appeal to flattery | a fallacy of the following form: Person A is flattered by person B. Person B makes claim X. Therefore X is true. | |
| 8831 | argumentum ad invidiam | argument from envy. | |
| 8832 | argument from envy | also known as Argumentum ad Invidiam | |
| 8833 | appeal to ridicule | a fallacy in which ridicule or mockery is substituted for evidence in an “argument.” | |
| 8834 | argumentum ad nauseam | (argument to the point of disgust; i.e., by repetition). This is the fallacy of trying to prove something by saying it again and again. | |
| 8835 | genetic fallacy | a line of “reasoning” in which a perceived defect in the origin of a claim or thing is taken to be evidence that discredits the claim or thing itself, or origin as evidence for the claim | |
| 8840 | argumentum ad hominem | (argument directed at the person). This is the error of attacking the character or motives of a person who has stated an idea, rather than the idea itself. | |
| 8841 | circumstantial ad hominem | a fallacy in which one attempts to attack a claim by asserting that the person making the claim is making it simply out of self interest | |
| 8842 | personal attack | when a person substitutes abusive remarks for evidence when attacking another person’s claim or claims | |
| 8843 | poisoning the well | trying to discredit what a person might later claim by presenting unfavorable information (be it true or false) about the person | |
| 8844 | tu quoque (ad hominem tu quoque) | (“you too”). This is the fallacy of defending an error in one’s reasoning by pointing out that one’s opponent has made the same error. | |
| 8845 | guilt by association | a fallacy in which a person rejects a claim simply because it is pointed out that people she dislikes accept the claim | |
| 8846 | bad company fallacy | guilt by association – the attempt to discredit an idea based upon disfavored people or groups associated with it. | |
| 8847 | the company that you keep fallacy | guilt by association | |
| 8848 | two wrongs make a right | a fallacy in which a person “justifies” an action against a person by asserting that the person would do the same thing to him/her, when the action is not necessary to prevent B from doing X to A | |
| 8849 | special pleading | a fallacy in which a person applies standards, principles, rules, etc. to others while taking herself (or those she has a special interest in) to be exempt, without providing adequate justification for the exemption | |
| 8850 | loaded language / words | a word or phrase is “loaded” when it has a secondary, evaluative meaning in addition to its primary, descriptive meaning. | |
| 8851 | question-begging epithets | loaded language / words | |
| 8852 | one-sidedness | a one-sided case presents only evidence favoring its conclusion, and ignores or downplays the evidence against it. | |
| 8853 | one-sided assessment | one-sidedness | |
| 8854 | suppressed evidence | one-sidedness. ignoring the counterevidence | |
| 8855 | slanting | one-sidedness. related to bias. | |
| 8856 | card stacking | ignoring the counterevidence; one-sidedness | |
| 8860 | black-and-white fallacy | a fallacy in which a person uses the following pattern of “reasoning”: Either claim X is true or claim Y is true (when X and Y could both be false). Claim Y is false. Therefore claim X is true. | |
| 8861 | black-or-white fallacy | black-and-white fallacy | |
| 8862 | either / or fallacy | black-and-white fallacy | |
| 8863 | false dilemma | a fallacy in which a person uses the following pattern of “reasoning”: Either claim X is true or claim Y is true (when X and Y could both be false). Claim Y is false. Therefore claim X is true. | |
| 8864 | bifurcation | black-or-white fallacy | |
| 8865 | straw man | this is the fallacy of refuting a caricatured or extreme version of somebody’s argument, rather than the actual argument they’ve made. | |
| 8866 | slippery slope | a slippery slope fallacy is an argument that says adopting one policy or taking one action will lead to a series of other policies or actions also being taken, without showing a causal connection between the advocated policy and the consequent policies. | |
| 8867 | argument of the beard | slippery slope | |
| 8868 | middle ground | fallacy committed when it is assumed that the middle position between two extremes must be correct simply because it is the middle position | |
| 8871 | quoting out of context | to quote out of context is to remove a passage from its surrounding matter in such a way as to distort its meaning. | |
| 8872 | abstraction | quoting out of context | |
| 8881 | false precision | this fallacy occurs when an argument treats information as more precise than it really is. | |
| 8882 | misplaced precision | false precision | |
| 8883 | fake precision | false precision | |
| 8884 | spurious accuracy | false precision | |
| 8891 | burden of proof | a fallacy in which the burden of proof is placed on the wrong side | |
| 9100 | exemplum | example cited, either true or feigned illustrative story proof by analogy to the deeds of historical or fabulous men | |
| 9101 | example | amplifying a point by providing a true or feigned example. | |
| 9201 | sententia | one of several terms describing short, pithy sayings. Others include adage, apothegm, gnome, maxim, paroemia, and proverb. | |
| 9202 | apophonema | sententia put in antithetical form | |
| 9203 | paroemia | one of several terms describing short, pithy sayings. | |
| 9204 | paromia | proverb | |
| 9205 | proverb | one of several terms describing short, pithy sayings. Others include adage, apothegm, gnome, maxim, paroemia, and sententia. | |
| 9206 | gnome | one of several terms describing short, pithy sayings. Others include adage, apothegm, maxim, paroemia, proverb, and sententia. | |
| 9207 | adage | one of several terms describing short, pithy sayings, or traditional expressions of conventional wisdom. | |
| 9208 | maxim | one of several terms describing short, pithy sayings. Others include apothegm, gnome, paroemia, proverb, and sententia. | |
| 9209 | apothegm | brief, famous saying, usually in figurative language | |
| 9210 | aenos | quoting wise sayings from fables or the moral to the end of a fable | |
| 9211 | apomnemonysis | appropriate saying complementing speaker’s purposes | |
| 9212 | chria | short summary of an action or saying naming quoted author | |
| 9213 | epicrisis | use of quotation then comment on or judge it | |
| 9214 | adjudicatio | Latin term for epicrisis. | |
| 9215 | apodixis | common experience or knowledge | |
| 9216 | antirrhesis | reject evil authority | |
| 9217 | paradiorthosis | twist well known quotation without crediting author | |
| 9218 | aetiologia | explanation from myth | |
| 9219 | oraculum | quoting God’s commandments | |
| 9220 | martyria | use one’s own experience as authority | |
| 9221 | diatyposis | originating of rules to live by for one’s audience or for posterity | |
| 9501 | pathopoeia | a general term for speech that moves hearers emotionally, especially as the speaker attempts to elicit an emotional response by way of demonstrating his/her own feelings (exuscitatio). | |
| 9502 | excitatio | to excite an audience, especially out of a stupor or boredom. Kinds of excitatio include an acclamatio, an invocation, a digression affirming, denying, or prohibiting something, or a simple admonishment not to sleep. | |
| 9503 | ecphonesis | exclamatory speech | |
| 9504 | exclamatio | most often exclamatio is simply the Latin term for ecphonesis (an emotional exclamation); however, it has also been used (as in the Ad Herennium) to indicate apostrophe. | |
| 9505 | exuscitatio | excites audience through tone either positively or negatively | |
| 9506 | donysis | or intention, and some call it imagination, whereby fear, anger, madness, hatred, envy, and like other perturbations of mind is showed and described | |
| 9507 | dehortatio | ||
| 9508 | apagoresis | a statement designed to inhibit someone from doing something. | |
| 9509 | parrhesia | 1: shows humility for real or imagined offences 2: shows boldness, freedom of expression or frankness | |
| 9511 | comprobatio | approving and commending a virtue, especially in the hearers. | |
| 9512 | comprobation | rewards audience for its actions or character | |
| 9513 | combrobatio | [alternative spelling of comprobatio?] | |
| 9514 | communicatio | In general, to include one’s audience overtly in a discourse. A term that comprises several more specific ones. | |
| 9515 | encomium (encomia) | Greek choral song praising winners. poems of laudatory nature | |
| 9516 | eulogia | praises someone or something highly, especially if just died | |
| 9517 | eulogy | praises someone or something highly, especially if just died | |
| 9518 | eucharista | lauds benefactors for good received and belittles self | |
| 9520 | circumlocutio | as the name implies, “talking around” something, usually by supplying a descriptive phrase in place of a name. Circumlocutions are rhetorically useful as euphemisms, as a method of amplification, or to hint at something without stating it. | |
| 9521 | euphemism | the use of mild or discreet language for unpleasant topics. | |
| 9522 | intimation | hinting at a meaning but not stating it explicitly. | |
| 9523 | ennoia | a kind of purposeful holding back of information that nevertheless hints at what is meant. A kind of circuitous speaking. | |
| 9524 | schematismus | circuitous speech created by suspicions. planned meaning left unspoken for safety, modesty or grace | |
| 9525 | charientismus | offering of pleasing, obsequious words sometimes ironically | |
| 9526 | paradiastole | comparison to sooth, flatter or assuage | |
| 9530 | euphemismus | prophesies good fortune | |
| 9540 | adhortatio | a commandment, promise, or exhortation intended to move one’s consent or desires. | |
| 9541 | eustaphia | asserts one’s support and loyalty. sometimes an invocation | |
| 9542 | eustathia | promising constancy in purpose and affection. | |
| 9543 | orcos | swear oath supporting or denying what one has already said | |
| 9544 | euche | solemn promise or vow | |
| 9546 | asphalia | speaker offers to hold himself responsible for audience or what it holds dear | |
| 9550 | optatio | appeals to God or man that wish be granted | |
| 9551 | oeonismus | Greek term for optatio. | |
| 9552 | deesis | speaker fervently desires something for sake of God or mankind | |
| 9553 | deprecatio | a praying against evil, against others, or oneself; a prayer for the removal of some evil. | |
| 9554 | paeanismus | full of joy at some goodness attained or evil avoided | |
| 9555 | threnos | laments own or another’s suffering | |
| 9556 | anamnesis | sorrowful recalling of the past used in dirge elegy eulogy lament | |
| 9557 | mempsis | complains and seeks help | |
| 9558 | oictros | or commiseration, whereby tears be piked out, or pity is moved, or forgiveness, as in Cicero’s perorations, and complaints in poets | |
| 9559 | epiplexis | asking questions in order to chide, to express grief, or to inveigh. A kind of rhetorical question. | |
| 9560 | paramythia | tries to mitigate misery of someone suffering | |
| 9561 | apocarteresis | speaker loses hope of gaining or maintaining something so turns to something else | |
| 9562 | philophronesis | trying to mitigate anger by gentle speech and humble submission | |
| 9563 | aposiopesis | sudden breaking off in middle of a sentence from unwillingness or inability to continue from awesome emotion or obvious or sordid detail stopping suddenly in midcourse, leaving statement unfinished | |
| 9564 | reticentia | aposiopesis | |
| 9571 | aganactesis | an exclamation proceeding from deep indignation. | |
| 9572 | indignatio | displeasure, indignation. Latin term for aganactesis. | |
| 9573 | billingsgate | coarsely abusive language. bloviate |
|
| 9575 | inter se pugnantia | scolding of opponent for lack of character or high-mindedness. usually couched in contradictory terms | |
| 9576 | onedismus | scolds opponent for miserable character | |
| 9577 | anticategoria | mutual accusation or recrimination | |
| 9578 | epiplexus | scolds fiercely or exposes speaker’s grief | |
| 9579 | exouthenismos | an expression of contempt. | |
| 9580 | apaetesis | angry putting aside of a matter to be taken up later | |
| 9581 | proclees | provokes conflict by finding fault with opponent or demanding reasons for certain behaviour | |
| 9582 | bdelygmia | expresses ill wishes on person or thing | |
| 9583 | abominatio | Latin term for bdelygmia or latin term for apodioxis | |
| 9584 | perclusio | a threat against someone, or something. | |
| 9585 | cataplexis | threatening catastrophe upon person or thing | |
| 9586 | mycterismus | replies to remark with a mocking, scowling tone | |
| 9587 | sarcasmus | cutting and bitter retort | |
| 9588 | amara irrisio | another term for sarcasmus. | |
| 9589 | jeremiad | complains about the distressing state of man, forcefully mourns a loss, or rants of coming doom | |
| 9590 | ominatio | prophesy consequences of evil act or vice | |
| 9591 | paraenesis | warns or berates | |
| 9592 | admonitio | Latin term for paraenesis. | |
| 9595 | benedictio | a blessing, or the act of blessing. | |
| 9596 | imprecation | cursing or damning of a person malediction | |
| 9597 | ara | shows hatred for the evil in a person or the evil he carries with him | |
| 9598 | syngnome | puts aside wrongs of adversaries and asks that they be treated leniently | |
| 9599 | medela | recognises negative but attempts to better conditions through kind or approving words | |
| 9700 | figure | traditionally defined as the various uses of language that depart from customary construction, order, or significance | |
| 9701 | scheme | an artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement of words. One of two general categories for figures of speech, along with trope. | |
| 9702 | trope | rhetorical device that produces a shift in the meaning of words– traditionally contrasted with a scheme | |
| 9703 | denotation | definitional, ‘literal’, ‘obvious’ or ‘commonsense’ meaning of a sign | |
| 9704 | connotation | socio-cultural and ‘personal’ associations (ideological, emotional etc.) of the sign | |
| 9705 | emotive | appealing to or expressing emotion (the emotive use of language) | |
| 9706 | didactic | 1: designed or intended to teach 2: intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment 3: making moral observations | |
| 9707 | index | show something about things, on account of their being physically connected with them (Peirce) | |
| 9708 | symbol | a conventional sign, or one depending upon habit (Peirce) | |
| 9709 | image | vivid or graphic representation or description | |
| 9750 | masked/false pronoun | 0 | |
| 9751 | megaloprepeia | 0 | |
| 9752 | sustentatio | 0 | |
| 9753 | deinosis | 0 | |
| 9754 | elaboration | 0 | |
| 9755 | apamnemonysis | 0 | |
| 9756 | compliment | 0 | |
| 9757 | diabole | 0 | |
| 9758 | diallage | 0 | |
| 9801 | brachylogia | nouns without conjunctions | |
| 9802 | juxtaposition | placing two or more things side by side | |
| 9803 | hypozeuxis | repetition of key verb or noun throughout series of clauses | |
| 9804 | epanalepsis | repetition at end of clause of word that occurred at beginning | |
| 9805 | juxtaposition | placing two or more things side by side | |
| 9806 | onomatopoeia | the use of words to imitate natural sounds; accommodation of sound to sense. | |
| 9807 | perissologia | extraneous clause added to sentence to supply grace. No new sense. | |
| 9808 | syllepsis | like zeugma but utility word grammatically agrees with only its nearest object and is used in two different senses | |
| 9809 | ellipsis | words left out of sentence, easily inferred | |
| 9810 | antanaclasis | word obtains two or more meanings when repeated calls attention to word’s origins or sound values | |
| 9811 | juxtaposition | placing two or more things side by side | |
| 9812 | asteismus | witty use of relation of words to each other and to reality. Purposeful misunderstanding. facetious or mocking… | |
| 9813 | enigma | riddle | |
| 9814 | peristasis | defines thing or person through circumstance | |
| 9815 | syncrisis | contrasts opposing persons / things in one statement | |
| 9816 | taxis | to divide a subject up into its various components or attributes. Expresses the most salient features of things | |
| 9817 | antithesis | juxtapose opposite ideas of similar grammatical constructions balance of tensions achieved | |
| 9818 | epitrope | speaker either ironically or sincerely gives up something an opponent wants | |
| 9819 | inter se pugnantia | scolding of opponent for lack of character or high-mindedness. usually couched in contradictory terms | |
| 9820 | antanagoge | contradiction by stating something negative then balancing it with something positive balance unfavourable aspect with favourable one | |
| 9821 | auxesis | gradual increase in intensity of meaning | |
| 9822 | paradiegesis | an introductory narrative (often a digression) used to open a speech. | |
| 9823 | amphibologia | ambiguity caused by either grammatical looseness or multiple meanings of words | |
| 9824 | efficient cause | agent and instrument linked through usage | |
| 9825 | juxtaposition | placing two or more things side by side | |
| 9826 | antirrhesis | reject evil authority | |
| 9827 | epiphonema | exclamation that summarises or concludes a discourse | |
| 9828 | erotesis | question boldly asserts opposite of what is asked | |
| 9829 | apophasis | hold back main reason or ironic denial | |
| 9830 | apoplanesis | completely evade issue or question | |
| 9831 | diaeresis | genus into species divide something of general nature into specific parts (has other meanings) | |
| 9832 | digestion | an orderly enumeration of points to be discussed | |
| 9833 | enumeratio | a synonym for anacephalaeosis. or Dividing a subject into its adjuncts, a cause into its effects, or an antecedent into its consequents. or A synonym for expeditio. | |
| 9834 | metanoia | qualifying a statement by recalling it and expressing it in a different way | |
| 9835 | alloiosis | breaking down subject into alternatives | |
| 9836 | anthypophora | arguing with self asking questions then answering | |
| 9837 | anticategoria | mutual accusation or recrimination | |
| 9838 | antinomy | comparing one law or part of to another | |
| 9839 | contrarium | one of two opposite statements used to prove the other | |
| 9840 | dialysis | first states major premise, then reasons, then conclusion.arguing from series of disjunctive propositions | |
| 9841 | dilemma | argument that offers opponent unacceptable choices | |
| 9842 | progressio | advancing by steps of comparison | |
| 9843 | prosapodosis | supporting each alternative with a reason | |
| 9844 | sermocinatio | speaker answers remarks or questions of a pretended interlocutor | |
| 9845 | epitrochasmus | swift movement from one statement to another | |
| 9846 | fable | fictional story meant to teach a moral lesson | |
| 9847 | hypozeugma | utility word of a sentence placed in last line or section | |
| 9848 | mesozeugma | key verb placed in middle of a sentence linking preceding and subsequent sentences | |
| 9849 | oxymoron | the apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposed use of words which seem to contradict one another. | |
| 9850 | proverb | one of several terms describing short, pithy sayings. Others include adage, apothegm, gnome, maxim, paroemia, and sententia. | |
| 9851 | prozeugma | verb in one clause understood to apply in succeeding clauses | |
| 9852 | zeugma | one word applied to two or more words | |
| 9853 | amphidiorthosis | hedge charge made in anger by qualification | |
| 9854 | anacoenosis | seem to ask advice ask opinion of hearers or readers | |
| 9855 | apodioxis | reject opponent’s arguments as | |
| 9856 | diasyrmus | outright rejection by absurd comparison | |
| 9857 | dicaeologia | excuse showing absolute necessity | |
| 9858 | emphasis | stress of language in such a way as to imply more than is actually stated | |
| 9859 | peroration | impassioned summary | |
| 9860 | analogy | reason or argue from parallel cases | |
| 9861 | euphemismus | prophesies good fortune | |
| 9862 | agnominatio | repetition of a word with change in letter or sound | |
| 9863 | auxesis | gradual increase in intensity of meaning | |
| 9864 | polysyndeton | deliberate use of many conjunctions. Leads to slowing of rhythm. | |
| 9865 | epistrophe | repeat same word or phrase at end of clauses or sentences | |
| 9866 | isocolon | parallelism where similarity not only of structure but of length in words or even syllables | |
| 9867 | emphasis | stress of language in such a way as to imply more than is actually stated | |
| 9868 | exuscitatio | excites audience through tone either positively or negatively | |
| 9869 | metastasis | 1: passing over an issue quickly 2: turning back an insult or objection against the person who made it | |
| 9870 | oraculum | quoting God’s commandments | |
| 9871 | periphrasis | roundabout expression for single word or proper name | |
| 9872 | philophronesis | trying to mitigate anger by gentle speech and humble submission | |
| 9873 | prolepsis | applying now an attribute or epithet that will have relevancy later | |
| 9874 | antimetabole | repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order | |
| 9875 | antiphrasis | ironic use of one word or phrase sigifying opposite of lexical meaning | |
| 9876 | catachresis | use of word from one dimension of meaning in another | |
| 9877 | metaplasm | moving letters or syllables from natural place generic term | |
| 10000 | dissoi logoi | arguing both sides of an issue for rhetorical training | |
| 10001 | reductio ad absurdum | mode of argumentation that seeks to establish a contention by deriving an absurdity from its denial | |
| 10002 | adinventio | prepared excuse to confront all objections | |
| 10003 | Ante occupatio | to anticipate and answer the possible objections to an argument | |
| 10004 | Antirresis | refutation | |
| 10005 | Praeexpositio | to compare what has been done with what ought to have been done | |
| 10006 | Praeparatio | to state why something will be said or done or has been done | |
| 10007 | Praesumptio | to anticipate objections to an argument | |
| 10008 | Transmissio | to turn an argument back on the acuser | |
| 10009 | Dinumeratio | to list and define the parts of one’s speech | |
| 10010 | Partitio | to divide a speech into its parts | |
| 10011 | Collectio | the expansion of a subject by conjecture | |
| 10012 | Contrarium | to construct a syllogism leaving out a premise | |
| 10014 | Ratiocinatio | to reason from cause to effect | |
| 10015 | Alloeosis | to change the mood or voice of a verb, the form of a conjunction or of a noun | |
| 10016 | Allotheta | to use one case for another | |
| 10017 | Dissectio | when a word is divided into two and one or more words are inserted between | |
| 10018 | Eteroeosis | to use a proper name or substantive as an adjective | |
| 10019 | Inversio | an exchange of syllables which corrupts the word | |
| 10020 | Metaplasmos | the alteration of a letter or syllable of a word | |
| 10022 | Permutatio | enallage. to exchange a verb for a noun, etc | |
| 10023 | Scurra | an obscene innuendo | |
| 10024 | Traductio | to repeat the stem of a word in many forms within one unit | |
| 10025 | Adjunctio | to complete several clauses with one verb | |
| 10026 | Appositum | to attached to each noun a suitable adjective | |
| 10027 | Chiasmos | chiasmus. to join the first thing to the fourth, the second to the third | |
| 10028 | Compar | when the parts of a phrase are balanced in quantity and quality of sound | |
| 10029 | Compositio | to squeeze two words together to achieve a metrical arrangement | |
| 10030 | Comprehensio | a close-packed group of words embracing a complete thought | |
| 10031 | Conceptio | to complete several clauses with one verb having different meanings | |
| 10032 | Confusio | confusion. when all the the parts are disarranged and confused | |
| 10033 | Constructio | to vary the syntax of expressions that admit of different constructions | |
| 10034 | Disjunctio | parallel sentences each with a nearly synonymous verb | |
| 10035 | Endiadis | to turn one word into two by putting something in the middle | |
| 10036 | Incisum | a brief and simple phrase with or without a verb | |
| 10037 | Metabole | to create clauses in which the word order is repeated | |
| 10038 | Praeposteratio | to give first place in a sentence to that which is chronologically second | |
| 10039 | Reversio | transposition. to transpose two words | |
| 10041 | Series | a series of phrases which are incomplete until the end of the sentence | |
| 10042 | Similiter cadens | clauses which end with words of similar cases | |
| 10043 | Similiter desinens | clauses which end with familiar sounding syllables | |
| 10045 | Transgressio | an effective change from normally correct word order | |
| 10048 | Fabella | fable. a witty imitation using animals or things | |
| 10049 | Fabula | a tale or myth with fantastic events involving gods or heros | |
| 10050 | Flexus | an involuted and prolix section of an historical narrative | |
| 10051 | Recordatio | a recital of past events recalled by the speaker | |
| 10053 | Barbarismos | incorrectness of grammar, word choice or spelling | |
| 10054 | Bomphilogia | bombast. small things described in big words | |
| 10055 | Cacophonia | cacophony. discordant sound | |
| 10056 | Cumulatio | indiscriminant use of words from different dialects or languages | |
| 10057 | Humiliatio | to use ill-selected words that diminish or debase | |
| 10058 | Importunitas | something said at the wrong time | |
| 10059 | Improprietas | a word the meaning or position of which is not appropriate to the subject | |
| 10060 | Nugatio | to carelessly repeat a word or phrase, or to define by repetition. tautology | |
| 10061 | Redundantia | an excess of words | |
| 10062 | Solecismos | solesism. misuse of grammatical rules; intrusion of poor grammar | |
| 10063 | Turpiloquum | possible obscenity through the way the words are arranged | |
| 10064 | Acclamatio | to exclaim or make a concise statement at the end | |
| 10065 | Conclusio | summation. to make a summing up | |
| 10066 | Frequentatio | to repeat concisely points made throughout | |
| 10067 | Iteratio | to repeat and sum up in a few words | |
| 10068 | Judicatio | an opinion or judgment to a saying from another author or on something one has said | |
| 10069 | Percursio | to summarize rapidly | |
| 10070 | Permissio | to refer a remainder to the judgment of a listener | |
| 10071 | Praecisio | to end suddenly | |
| 10072 | Definitio | to make the shortest correct exposition of the nature of anything | |
| 10073 | Demonstratio | to describe something vividly | |
| 10074 | Locus | to describe vividly a place | |
| 10075 | Notatio | to describe the personality and character of a person | |
| 10076 | Praescriptio | to describe facts and circumstances not necessary to the discourse, but relevant | |
| 10077 | Tempus | to describe the time of day or season | |
| 10078 | Tractatio | to describe in vivid visual terms | |
| 10079 | Attributio | to attribute the qualities of things or persons to other things or persons | |
| 10080 | Castigatio | to belittle something by unfavorable comparison | |
| 10081 | Collatio | to compare by showing the sequence of thought that led to the comparison | |
| 10082 | Conformatio | personification. to attribute speech and sense to things which do not normally have them | |
| 10083 | Dissimilitudo | to compare the different qualities of different things | |
| 10084 | Distinctio | to distinguish between two persons or things which are similar | |
| 10085 | Emblem | the visual part distinguishing a person or thing | |
| 10086 | Imago | to compare one form, figure, or attitude with another implying a resemblance | |
| 10089 | Similitudo | similitude. to discover similarities between two different things | |
| 10090 | Translatio | metaphor. to describe a thing as something to which it is being compared | |
| 10091 | Commutatio | to invert a sentence so that it becomes its own contrary | |
| 10092 | Contrapositum | to join contrary things as if they were similar | |
| 10093 | Regressio | to repeat and contrast things | |
| 10094 | Boni ominis captatio | to interpret an uncertain outcome as the better possibility; to call an uncertain thing a good one | |
| 10095 | Conciliatio | to express gently that which is unpleasant | |
| 10096 | Dementiens | hyperbole. to say more than the facts warrant; to exaggerate | |
| 10097 | Error | to deliberately introduce topics which lead the audience to error | |
| 10098 | Extenuatio | to diminish the subject by using a worse phrase for a bad thing, a low word for a noble thing, etc. | |
| 10099 | Hendiades | to join by conjunction rather than to subordinate | |
| 10100 | Irrisio | to savagely taunt with sweet words | |
| 10101 | Intimitatio | to imply something without saying it | |
| 10102 | Invitio | to imply something by not saying it | |
| 10103 | Negando | to use a word or phrase to imply the opposite meaning | |
| 10104 | Subintellectio | synecdoche. to imply the whole by the part, the genus by the species, or vice versa | |
| 10105 | Urbanitas | a sophisticated joke | |
| 10106 | Illusio | when the meaning is contrary to that suggested by the words | |
| 10107 | Negatio | a refusal to speak which nevertheless tells | |
| 10108 | Nominatio | onomatopoeia. to create or use a word that sounds like what it means | |
| 10109 | Pronominatio | to substitute a descriptive phrase for a proper name | |
| 10110 | Prosopopocia | personification. to give speech and sense to things which do not have it | |
| 10111 | Proverbium | proverb. a pithy saying | |
| 10112 | Transmutatio | metonymy. to substitute one name for another, the cause for the effect, the container for the thing contained; things associated | |
| 10113 | Transumptio | metalepsis. metaphor of a metaphor, or series of metaphors | |
| 10114 | Allusio | to alter a letter or syllable slightly to change the meaning of a word | |
| 10115 | Ambiguitas | when a word can be understood in two or more ways | |
| 10116 | Interpretatio | to express the same thing in different words | |
| 10117 | Refractio | to repeat a word but with a different meaning | |
| 10118 | Submutatio | to invert the words in a sentence in a ridiculous way | |
| 10119 | Brachiepeia | extreme brevity | |
| 10120 | Familiaritas | to take the discussion into terms of intimacy and familiarity | |
| 10121 | Libera vox | to pretend to speak freely by so doing encouraging belief | |
| 10122 | Percontatio | to inquire of others in order to set forth one’s own opinion | |
| 10123 | Quaestium | to question for emotional emphasis | |
| 10124 | Rogatio | to ask a question and add one’s own reply | |
| 10125 | Defectio | to omit the words expressing emotion | |
| 10126 | Detractio | to omit a word which can be understood from context | |
| 10127 | Dissolutio | to omit connecting particles between phrases | |
| 10128 | Occupatio | to tell something by pretending to omit it | |
| 10129 | Attemporatio | statements, general truths, etc. to confirm the truth of a proposition | |
| 10130 | Circumductio | prolixity. superfluous words into a speech | |
| 10131 | Confessio | confession. to admit to that of which one is accused | |
| 10132 | Deprecatio | entreaty. to confess and beg for compassion | |
| 10133 | Gratiarum acto | to thank for benefits received and admit inability to repay | |
| 10134 | Improvisatio | introduction of the unexpected | |
| 10135 | Interjectio | statement into another | |
| 10136 | Necessitas | to confess but maintain that the action was necessary | |
| 10137 | Prohibitio | to explain why something has not been done | |
| 10138 | Prosodiasaphesis | something small as an explanation | |
| 10139 | Purgatio | to excuse an admitted fault | |
| 10140 | Tolerantio | to give up all hope for something | |
| 10141 | Transitio | transition by repeating what has been said and introducing the next subject | |
| 10142 | Amplificatio | to use a greater word (or length of words) for a lesser thing or a lesser word (or shortness of statement) for a greater thing | |
| 10143 | Diremens copulatio | to state one exception and add another greater: not only …,but … | |
| 10144 | Incrementio | a series phrases each stronger than the last to make the subject seem more important | |
| 10145 | Laudatio | to praise something as worthy | |
| 10146 | Incrementum | to pile up material of increasing force in an orderly way to reach a climax, each word or phrase being stronger than the last | |
| 10147 | Ordo | to list with the most or least important first | |
| 10149 | Accusatio | to accuse someone to his face of something previously unknown | |
| 10150 | Asseveratio | to use strikingly appropriate epithets in general statements | |
| 10151 | Certitudo | to offer oneself as surety for one’s promise | |
| 10152 | Constantia | to promise constancy in the face of death, torture, etc, as if it were impossible to do otherwise | |
| 10153 | Copulatio | to state one exception and add another greater: not only …,but … | |
| 10154 | Experientia | to advise based on common experience | |
| 10155 | Inopinatum | to affirm a strange thing and express surprise at it | |
| 10157 | Jusurandum | to swear to something to confirm it | |
| 10158 | Redditio | to back up each statement with a reason | |
| 10159 | Testatio | testament. to affirm from one’s own experience | |
| 10160 | Exaggeratio | to use a single exaggerated word | |
| 10161 | Rejectio | to reject an accusation as unworthy of the accuser | |
| 10162 | Conglobatio | to say all the definitions of something at once | |
| 10163 | Copulatio | to reiterate a word with one or very few words between | |
| 10164 | Heratio | to repeat a word with different emphasis or significance | |
| 10165 | Perseverantia | the refrain. to repeat a phrase regularly | |
| 10166 | Reduplicatio | to repeat the last sound at the beginning of the next | |
| 10168 | Regressio | to repeat the same sound at the beginning and middle or the middle and end | |
| 10169 | Resumptio | to open and close a unit with the same sound | |
| 10170 | Subjunctio | to repeat a word or sound immediately without any interposition | |
| 10171 | Admiratio | to exclaim in wonder at something very good or bad | |
| 10172 | Paeanismos | to exclaim exultantly to express joy | |
| 10174 | Benevolencia | to attempt to obtain mercy by appeal for compassion from a stronger opponent | |
| 10175 | Compensatio | to join to unpleasant advice a promise for reward for following the advice or punishment if ignored | |
| 10176 | Obsecratio | to request or pray for help | |
| 10177 | Promissio | to promise of vow to obtain belief | |
| 10178 | Querimonia | to complain of something and seek help (from it) | |
| 10179 | Reticentia | to tell those who have no right to speak to shut up | |
| 10180 | Testamentum | to commend to the audience profitable rules and precepts | |
| 10182 | Aversio | to suddenly change from the third to second person | |
| 10183 | Increpatio | to turn an argument back forcefully on an opponent | |
| 10184 | Imitatio | to imitate not only in content but in pronunciation and gesture | |
| 10185 | Parodia | parody. a imaginary writing imitating a real one | |
| 10186 | Elevatio | to mock another’s statements | |
| 10187 | Execratio | to curse someone for things which cannot be proved | |
| 10188 | Exprobatio | to chastise for a proved crime | |
| 10189 | Insultatio | to deride the adversary | |
| 10191 | Consolatio | to attempt to diminish sorrow felt by the hearer | |
| 10192 | Exclusio | to dismiss a point which counts in the opponent’s favor | |
| 10193 | Imaginatio | to reveal a great mental change and move the audience to the same | |
| 10194 | Lamentatio | lamentation. to move the hearer to compassion | |
| 10196 | Provocatio | to remark or accuse to elicit a reply from the opponent | |
| 10197 | Tolerantia | to give up hope of something | |
| 10198 | Dubitatio | to express doubt about where to begin, what to talk about, or what word to use | |
| 10199 | Reprehensio | to qualify the meaning of a word, expressing doubt as to its correctness | |
| 10200 | Dictu commoratio | to recite a memorable saying (sentence) from another | |
| 10201 | Proverbum | proverb. a pithy saying | |
| 10202 | Ignocentia | to forgive those who have injured one | |
David Ruaune
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