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aposiopesis - 4 dictionary results
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To aposiopesis
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Aposiopesis
Ap`o*si`o*pe"sis\ (?; 277), n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, from ? to be quite silent.] (Rhet.) A figure of speech in which the speaker breaks off suddenly, as if unwilling or unable to state what was in his mind; as, "I declare to you that his conduct -- but I can not speak of that, here."
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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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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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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