epanalepsis

[ep-uh-nuh-lep-sis]

noun

Rhetoric.

1. a repetition of a word or a phrase with intervening words setting off the repetition, sometimes occurring with a phrase used both at the beginning and end of a sentence, as in Only a fool would trust a stranger with his money; only a fool.

epanalepsis

/ ɪˌpænəˈlɛpsɪs /

noun

1. rhetoric the repetition, after a more or less lengthy passage of subordinate or parenthetic text, of a word or clause that was used before

Other Word Forms

• epanaleptic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of epanalepsis¹

First recorded in 1575–85; from Greek epanálēpsis, literally, “taking up again, resumption,” equivalent to ep- ep- + ana- ana- + lêpsis “taking hold” ( lēp-, stem of lambánein “to take” + -sis -sis )

Word History and Origins

Origin of epanalepsis¹

C16: from Greek, from _epi- + _ana- + lēpis taking, from lambanein to take up

Example Sentences

They constitute the figure known as epanalepsis, in which “the same word or phrase is repeated after one or more intervening words.”

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