Sunday 29 November 2015

What is the name of this rhetorical device

Preterition, proslepsis or apophasis, not to mention the many other derivatives with either (late) latin or greek root: praeteritio(n), occupatio on the one hand, cataphasis, paralipsis, parasiopesis on the other hand.



While they vary with sources, nuances might be:



  • proslepsis: the pretence of passing over a subject while at the same time describing it fully,

  • apophasis: an allusion to something by denying that it will be mentioned,

  • praeterition: a rhetorical device in which the speaker emphasizes something by omitting it.

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