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metalepsis

American  
[met-uh-lep-sis] / ˌmɛt əˈlɛp sɪs /

noun

Rhetoric.

plural

metalepses

  1. the use of metonymy to replace a word already used figuratively.

Other Word Forms

  • metaleptic adjective
  • metaleptical adjective
  • metaleptically adverb

Etymology

Origin of metalepsis

1580–90; < Latin < Greek metálēpsis, equivalent to meta- meta- + lēp-, variant stem of lambánein to take + -sis -sis

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.