periodic sentence

[ peer-ee-od-ik, peer- ]

noun
  1. a sentence that, by leaving the completion of its main clause to the end, produces an effect of suspense, as in Unable to join the others at the dance because of my sprained ankle, I went to a movie.

Origin of periodic sentence

1
First recorded in 1895–1900

Words Nearby periodic sentence

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use periodic sentence in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for periodic sentence

periodic sentence

/ (ˌpɪərɪˈɒdɪk) /


noun
  1. rhetoric a sentence in which the completion of the main clause is left to the end, thus creating an effect of suspense

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