Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A sudden breaking off of a thought in the middle of a sentence, as though the speaker were unwilling or unable to continue.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In rhetoric, sudden reticence; the suppression by a speaker or writer of something which he seemed to be about to say; the sudden termination of a discourse before it is really finished.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rhet.) A figure of speech in which the speaker breaks off suddenly, as if unwilling or unable to state what was in his mind.”
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rhetoric An abrupt breaking-off in speech.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun breaking off in the middle of a sentence (as by writers of realistic conversations)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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LOL It's called aposiopesis when you end a sentence with an ellipsis; look it up.
Top Hillary Adviser: Richardson Privately Said Obama Is Unelectable 2009
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Also, when writing a statement using aposiopesis should use an em dash, rather then an ellipsis.
Top Hillary Adviser: Richardson Privately Said Obama Is Unelectable 2009
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No, aposiopesis means stopping a sentence short, which you did not do.
Top Hillary Adviser: Richardson Privately Said Obama Is Unelectable 2009
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There is no figurative language here; but there is the figure of aposiopesis, which (since it's just an artful breaking off of a sentence) is never figurative (in the sense we usually mean).
Archive 2005-05-01 2005
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Take this famous example of aposiopesis, which ends Sterne's A Sentimental Journey:
Archive 2005-05-01 2005
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Take this famous example of aposiopesis, which ends Sterne's A Sentimental Journey:
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There is no figurative language here; but there is the figure of aposiopesis, which (since it's just an artful breaking off of a sentence) is never figurative (in the sense we usually mean).
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First, they imagine, in this clause, the use of the figure aposiopesis, according to which something not expressed is understood; then they begin a new sentence, 'He shall be punished sevenfold,' which they refer to Cain.
Commentary on Genesis - Volume 1 1509-1564 1996
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I was briefly admonished to see that I wrote worse for the future, or else ---- At this aposiopesis I looked enquiringly at the speaker, and he filled up the chasm by saying, that he would "annihilate" me.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 58, No. 357, July 1845 Various
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Tamar's answer, "if thou wilt give a pledge until thou send it," is an unfinished statement, an aposiopesis, the omitted conclusion being, "I shall be satisfied."
Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 1892-1972 1942
trivet commented on the word aposiopesis
What the...?
February 28, 2007
seanahan commented on the word aposiopesis
This has to be one of the hardest words to pronounce, EVER.
March 1, 2007
abraxaszugzwang commented on the word aposiopesis
I love the pronunciation of this word. I can't get it out of my head.
March 4, 2007
mialuthien commented on the word aposiopesis
Also known as reticentia.
July 23, 2008
jmjarmstrong commented on the word aposiopesis
JM was writing of aposiopesis, forgive me, I'll be OK in a minute, when the rain started again.
February 1, 2009
dontcry commented on the word aposiopesis
Sould be spelled: apauseopieces if you ask me, dontcry.
February 2, 2009
Telofy commented on the word aposiopesis
"They spoke in fragments and ellipses, in periphrastics and aposiopesis, in a style abundant in chiasmus, metonymy, meiosis, oxymoron, and zeugma; their dazzling rhetorical techniques left him baffled and uncomfortable, which beyond much doubt was their intention." – Robert Silverberg, Born With the Dead (on World Wide Words)
July 27, 2009
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word aposiopesis
I didn't know there was a Ms. Pronunciation as well as Mr!
April 23, 2010
milosrdenstvi commented on the word aposiopesis
I've known her all my life, but I always called her Miss Pronunciation.
April 23, 2010