🔄 A change 🗣️ A topic shift

metabasis

9.9

A way of moving from one topic to another in speech or writing

noun
/ˌmɛtəˈbeɪsɪs/

Literature

: metabasis

In her essay, a well-placed metabasis helped connect two seemingly unrelated topics.

Examples

A skilled speaker employs metabasis to maintain the flow of a complex presentation.
The lecturer used metabasis to guide the audience from the introduction to the main argument.
A metabasis can enhance clarity.
The author used a metabasis to shift topics smoothly.
The lecturer used metabasis to guide the audience from the introduction to the main argument.
In her essay, a well-placed metabasis helped connect two seemingly unrelated topics.
A skilled speaker employs metabasis to maintain the flow of a complex presentation.

Synonyms

transition

vsmetabasis

9 4.1

A short part that links one idea to the next

is a specific rhetorical device for shifting from one subject to another

How Explicit

metabasis

Literature

9.9

transition

449 3.7

segue

23 7.2

Surface Forms

metabasis singular

metabases plural

Morphology

metabasis = basis (opaque) = meta + basis

The rhetorical sense is a specialized learned borrowing, and its meaning is not directly inferable from basis in modern English.

Etymology

Metabasis comes from Greek parts meta-, like the 'meta' in metaphor or metadata, meaning 'after' or 'change', and basis meaning 'step' or 'foundation'. So, in speech or writing, a metabasis is the 'step' a speaker takes to move from one subject to the next.