Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun See
paralipsis .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rhet.) A pretended or apparent omission; a figure by which a speaker artfully pretends to pass by what he really mentions; as, for example, if an orator should say, “I do not speak of my adversary's scandalous venality and rapacity, his brutal conduct, his treachery and malice.”
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rhetoric, linguistics A
figure of speech in which onepretends toignore oromit something by actuallymentioning it, as in: "I do not speak of my adversary's scandalous venality and rapacity, his brutal conduct, his treachery and malice".
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun suggesting by deliberately concise treatment that much of significance is omitted
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Michael B says: jukeboxgrad, wise and venerable one, preeminent in modesty and modest formulations (I mock not, nor [now to the audience in feigned sotto voce], nor do I indulge any mean paraleipsis),
The Volokh Conspiracy » Andrew McCarthy Sticks to His Guns (And He May Be Pointing Them at You Next) 2010
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“I shall not introduce—the rhetoricians call this paraleipsis—the wonderful woman sitting, appropriately, on my left, Mrs. Robert Kennedy.”
The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004
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That is an example of paraleipsis, the rhetorical technique of pointing something out by asserting you will not point it out, often preceded by the phrase “not to mention.”
The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004
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“I shall not introduce—the rhetoricians call this paraleipsis—the wonderful woman sitting, appropriately, on my left, Mrs. Robert Kennedy.”
The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004
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That is an example of paraleipsis, the rhetorical technique of pointing something out by asserting you will not point it out, often preceded by the phrase “not to mention.”
The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004
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Demoniacally arthropodan be a coastward that gets inaudible and we go from paraleipsis topping backstop to scandinavian butty.
Rational Review 2009
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jukeboxgrad, wise and venerable one, preeminent in modesty and modest formulations I mock not, nor now to the audience in feigned sotto voce, nor do I indulge any mean paraleipsis
The Volokh Conspiracy » Andrew McCarthy Sticks to His Guns (And He May Be Pointing Them at You Next) 2010
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"Don’t even mention," a locution known in rhetoric as a paraleipsis.
Dawg's Blawg 2005
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"Don’t even mention," a locution known in rhetoric as a paraleipsis.
Archive 2005-08-01 2005
mialuthien commented on the word paraleipsis
See also praeteritio and apophasis.
July 23, 2008