aposiopesis

[ap-uh-sahy-uh-pee-sis]

noun

Rhetoric.

plural

aposiopeses 

1. a sudden breaking off in the midst of a sentence, as if from inability or unwillingness to proceed.

aposiopesis

/ ˌæpəʊˌsaɪəˈpiːsɪs, ˌæpəʊˌsaɪəˈpɛtɪk /

noun

1. rhetoric the device of suddenly breaking off in the middle of a sentence as if unwilling to continue

Other Word Forms

• aposiopetic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of aposiopesis¹

1570–80; < Late Latin < Greek: literally, a full silence, equivalent to aposiōpē- (verbid stem of aposiōpáein to be fully silent; apo- apo- + siōpáein to be silent) + -sis -sis

Word History and Origins

Origin of aposiopesis¹

C16: via Late Latin from Greek, from aposiōpaein to be totally silent, from siōpaein to be silent

Example Sentences

And the novel's final line, from inside Valentine's head, is a typical and brilliant Fordian aposiopesis: "She was setting out on …" It could end there.

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And he turned away with a shrug to point his admirable aposiopesis.

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Raphael, Michael Angelo, Wiertz, Reynolds——” He paused, not in order to produce the effect of a dramatic aposiopesis, but because he could not for the moment remember other names of painters.

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Who ever composed with greater spirit and elegance because he could define an oxymoron or an aposiopesis?”

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By judicious selection, by innuendo, here a pitying aposiopesis, there an indignant outburst, the charges are heaped up.

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