epanorthosis
- noun
- /ˌɛpəˈnɔrθəsɪs/
- Literature
:
epanortosis
- In her poem, she employed epanorthosis to emphasize her feelings by rephrasing, 'It was a mistake, I mean a terrible mistake.'
Examples
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The speaker used epanorthosis to clarify his earlier statement, saying, 'That was not just a mistake; it was an error of judgment.'
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The writer included epanorthosis in the article to correct his claim: 'It was not merely difficult; it was excruciatingly hard.'
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On the other hand, the ironic epanorthosis involving parroquia and iglesia.
Academic text (1992)
Synonyms
5
4.1
A different way of saying the same idea to make it clearer
1
3.5
Putting something into different words to make it clearer
A speaker takes back a statement and says it again more strongly
Surface Forms
Morphology
epanorthosis = orthosis (opaque) = epan + orth + osis
The components are Greek combining forms not transparent to an average learner, and the term is a rare, specialized rhetorical noun so its meaning cannot be derived from the parts.
Etymology
Epanorthosis comes from Greek parts epi- ('again') and ortho ('correct'), so it once meant 'correct again' and you can remember ortho from orthodontist, who makes teeth 'straight'. That's why epanorthosis means the quick correction or stronger rephrasing someone makes right after speaking.