aposiopesis

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

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noun, plural ap·o·si·o·pe·ses [ap-uh-sahy-uh-pee-seez] /ˌæp əˌsaɪ əˈpi siz/. Rhetoric.

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

Origin of aposiopesis

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

Related formsap·o·si·o·pet·ic

[ap-uh-sahy-uh-pet-ik] /ˌæp əˌsaɪ əˈpɛt ɪk/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for aposiopesis

allegory, allusion, analogy, anticlimax, antithesis, bathos, comparison, conceit, device, euphemism, euphuism, exaggeration, expression, flourish, flower, hyperbole, image, imagery, irony, metaphor

Examples from the Web for aposiopesis

Historical Examples of aposiopesis

His aposiopesis suggested that there would be uproar and danger to life.
The Education of Eric Lane
Stephen McKenna
The aposiopesis was alarming, and Blarden's direction was obeyed instantaneously.
The Cock and Anchor
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Eustathius, and Clarke after him, understand an aposiopesis here, as if the speaker meant to say—what if there should be?
The Odyssey of Homer
Homer
Though in my edition I have made here an aposiopesis, I think it more probable that a line has been lost.
The Shakespeare-Expositor: An Aid to the Perfect Understanding of Shakespeare's Plays
Thomas Keightley
There may have been, as Malone thought, a line lost here; but I rather think it is an aposiopesis.
The Shakespeare-Expositor: An Aid to the Perfect Understanding of Shakespeare's Plays
Thomas Keightley

British Dictionary definitions for aposiopesis

aposiopesis

noun plural -ses (-siːz)

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

Derived Formsaposiopetic (ˌæpəʊˌsaɪəˈpɛtɪk), adjective

Word Origin for aposiopesis

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for aposiopesis

rhetorical artifice wherein the speaker suddenly breaks off in the middle of a sentence, 1570s, from Latin, from Greek aposiopesis "a becoming silent," also as a rhetorical figure, from apo- (see apo-) + siope "silence."