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Definition of prosopopoeia - 3 dictionary results

pro⋅so⋅po⋅poe⋅ia

  [proh-soh-puh-pee-uh]
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–noun Rhetoric.
1. personification, as of inanimate things.
2. a figure of speech in which an imaginary, absent, or deceased person is represented as speaking or acting.
Also, pro⋅so⋅po⋅pe⋅ia.

Origin:
1555–65; < L prosōpopoeia < Gk prosōpopoiía personification, equiv. to prósōpo(n) face, person + poi(eîn) to make + -ia -ia

Related forms:
pro⋅so⋅po⋅poe⋅ial, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pro·so·po·pe·ia also pro·so·po·poe·ia   (prə-sō'pə-pē'ə)   
n.  
  1. A figure of speech in which an absent or imaginary person is represented as speaking.
  2. See personification.

[Latin prosōpopoeia, from Greek prosōpopoiiā : prosōpon, face, mask, dramatic character (pros-, pros- + ōpon, face from ōps, ōp-, eye; see okw- in Indo-European roots) + poiein, to make; see kwei-2 in Indo-European roots.]
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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Prosopopoeia

Pros`o*po*p[oe]"ia\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?; pro`swpon a face, a person + ? to make.] (Rhet.) A figure by which things are represented as persons, or by which things inanimate are spoken of as animated beings; also, a figure by which an absent person is introduced as speaking, or a deceased person is represented as alive and present. It includes personification, but is more extensive in its signification.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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