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| (used as a nonsense word by children to express approval or to represent the longest word in English.) |
| the estimation of something as valueless (encountered mainly as an example of one of the longest words in the English language). |
aposiopesis
(Greek: "becoming silent"), a speaker's deliberate failure to complete a sentence. Aposiopesis usually indicates speechless rage or exasperation, as in "Why, you . . .," and sometimes implies vague threats as in, "Why, I'll . . . ." The listener is expected to complete the sentence in his mind. In ancient Greek rhetoric, the aposiopesis occasionally takes the form of a pause before a change of subject or a digression.
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