apostrophe
1
9.5
- noun
- /əˈpɑstrəfi/
- Literature
- "O Rousseau," he writes in a typically Raynalian apostrophe, "why did you have to live but sixty years?"
- apostrophe that addresses
- apostrophe to the divine
- apostrophe in lyric
Examples
-
Intimacy is created by the animating and relational power of apostrophe.
Academic text (1994) -
In the analogy of my essay, he has to learn to be the audience of the apostrophe.
Academic text (1994) -
In other words, you use an apostrophe or emit a cry because you cannot be quiet.
-
This linguistic secession of name and identity is part of a loving apostrophe to Pato.
-
In the Western rhetorical and lyric traditions, apostrophe has continued to be linked to heightened emotion.
Academic text (1994) -
In the poem, the speaker's sentimental apostrophe to the moon illustrates their longing for a lost love.
-
The writer used an emotional apostrophe to address the audience directly, creating a powerful connection.
-
"O Death," she exclaimed in a heartfelt apostrophe, expressing her despair over the loss of her friend.
Synonyms
27
8.2
A use of words that means more than the usual meaning
24
3.7
Words used to mean something different to create a strong picture
2
6.6
A way of using language to persuade or add emphasis
Compounds
- Offensive
An incorrect apostrophe used to make a plural word, for example 'apple's' for apples
Surface Forms
Morphology
apostrophe = apo + strophe
The rhetorical sense comes from classical Greek formation and is not transparently built from familiar English morphemes, so learners cannot infer the meaning from the parts.
Etymology
Apostrophe comes from the Greek parts apo- 'away' and strephein 'to turn', giving the idea of a 'turning away'. So in speech and writing an apostrophe can mean a speaker 'turns away' from the audience to speak to an absent person or idea, which is why the word names that rhetorical device.