Grade 12 College Vocabulary, Week 1

Definition: A figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole or the whole for a part, as "hands" for workers.

From the reading: "HEFT.--Handle, hilt; used by synecdoche for 'sword.'" (Beowulf)

Synonyms:

figure of speech, metonymy

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek synekdoche, a taking together (syn- + ekdechesthai, to receive).

Definition: A figure of speech in which a thing is named by something closely associated with it, as "the Crown" for the monarch.

Context (original sentence): When the reporter wrote that "the White House" denied the story, he was using metonymy for the president's staff.

Synonyms:

figure of speech, synecdoche

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek metonymia, change of name (meta- + onoma, name).

Definition: A rhetorical figure in which words or ideas are repeated in reverse order, as in the pattern "A of B, B of A."

Context (original sentence): The motto "Work to live, do not live to work" is a neat chiasmus.

Synonyms:

inversion, antimetabole

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek chiasmos, a crosswise arrangement, from the letter chi (X).

Definition: A figure of speech in which one word governs two others in different senses, as "He lost his hat and his temper."

Context (original sentence): The sentence "She opened the door and her heart to the orphan" is a zeugma.

Synonyms:

syllepsis

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek zeugma, a yoking (zeugnynai, to yoke).

Definition: Ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite, as "not bad" for "good."

Context (original sentence): Calling the hurricane "no small breeze" is a litotes.

Synonyms:

understatement, meiosis

Antonyms:

hyperbole

Root:Greek litotes, plainness (litos, simple).

Definition: Mentioning something by saying that it will not be mentioned.

Context (original sentence): "I will not even speak of my opponent's many debts" is a sly apophasis.

Synonyms:

paralipsis, preterition

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek apophasis, denial (apo- + phanai, to say).

Definition: The omission of conjunctions between words or clauses for effect.

Context (original sentence): Caesar's three-word report of victory, veni, vidi, vici, is the classic example of asyndeton.

Synonyms:

omission

Antonyms:

polysyndeton

Root:Greek asyndetos, unconnected (a-, not + syndein, to bind together).

Definition: The deliberate use of many conjunctions in close succession for effect.

Context (original sentence): The storyteller's polysyndeton—"and the wind blew and the rain fell and the floods came"—made the storm seem endless.

Synonyms:

repetition

Antonyms:

asyndeton

Root:Greek poly-, many + syndetos, bound together.

Definition: The running over of a sentence from one line of verse to the next without a pause.

Context (original sentence): Milton's enjambment carries the reader from line to line like a river in flood.

Synonyms:

run-on line

Antonyms:

end-stopping

Root:French enjambement, from enjamber, to stride over (jambe, leg).

Definition: A pause or break in a line of verse, often marked by punctuation.

Context (original sentence): In Old English poetry a caesura divides every line into two halves.

Synonyms:

pause, break

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin caesura, a cutting (caedere, to cut).

Definition: An inversion of normal word order for emphasis or effect.

Context (original sentence): "Silver and gold have I none" is a hyperbaton that places the emphasis on what Peter lacked.

Synonyms:

inversion, anastrophe

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek hyperbaton, overstepping (hyper- + bainein, to step).

Definition: The anticipation and answering of an objection before it is raised; also, the representation of a future event as already done.

Context (original sentence): In a careful prolepsis, the debater answered his opponent's strongest point before the opponent could make it.

Synonyms:

anticipation, procatalepsis

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek prolepsis, anticipation (pro- + lambanein, to take).

Definition: The misuse of a word, or a strained and paradoxical metaphor.

Context (original sentence): Speaking of "a long-legged journey" is a catachresis that some poets use deliberately.

Synonyms:

misuse, abuse of language

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek katachresis, misuse (kata- + chresthai, to use).

Definition: The use of indirect and roundabout language; circumlocution.

Context (original sentence): Calling a spade "an implement for the excavation of soil" is periphrasis.

Synonyms:

circumlocution, verbosity

Antonyms:

directness, concision

Root:Greek periphrasis (peri-, around + phrazein, to declare).

Definition: A play on words; a pun.

Context (original sentence): The sign over the baker's door, "We knead you," was an example of paronomasia.

Synonyms:

pun, wordplay

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek paronomasia (para-, beside + onomazein, to name).

Definition: A figure of speech combining apparently contradictory terms, as "wise fool."

Context (original sentence): "Sweet sorrow" and "living death" are each an oxymoron.

Synonyms:

paradox, contradiction

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek oxymoron, pointedly foolish (oxys, sharp + moros, dull).

Definition: The repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses.

Context (original sentence): St. Paul's line about speaking, understanding, and thinking "as a child" ends each clause with an epistrophe.

Synonyms:

epiphora, repetition

Antonyms:

anaphora

Root:Greek epistrophe, a turning upon.

Definition: A figure of speech that deliberately understates something, as calling a severe wound "a scratch."

Context (original sentence): The knight's meiosis—"'tis but a scratch"—made his friends laugh even as they bound the wound.

Synonyms:

understatement, litotes

Antonyms:

hyperbole

Root:Greek meiosis, a lessening (meion, less).

Definition: The repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order.

Context (original sentence): "Eat to live, not live to eat" is an antimetabole often credited to Socrates.

Synonyms:

chiasmus, inversion

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek antimetabole, a turning about (anti- + metaballein, to turn).

Definition: An expression of doubt, real or pretended, about how to proceed; also, an unresolvable puzzle in an argument.

Context (original sentence): The speaker began with an aporia: "Where shall I begin to describe such a man?"

Synonyms:

perplexity, doubt, impasse

Antonyms:

certainty

Root:Greek aporia, a being at a loss (a-, without + poros, passage).