paralepsis
- noun
- /ˌpærəˈlɛp.sɪs/
- Literature
:
paralepsis
- The politician used paralepsis to draw attention to his opponent’s mistakes while claiming to ignore them.
Examples
-
The speaker used paralepsis to highlight the issue without directly addressing it.
-
Writers often employ paralepsis to highlight controversial topics while maintaining plausible deniability.
-
In his speech, he relied on paralepsis to make insinuations without stating them outright.
-
Did you notice how she employed paralepsis in her argument?
-
The politician used paralepsis to draw attention to his opponent’s mistakes while claiming to ignore them.
-
In his speech, he relied on paralepsis to make insinuations without stating them outright.
-
Writers often employ paralepsis to highlight controversial topics while maintaining plausible deniability.
Synonyms
A way of bringing up something by saying you will not talk about it
To pretend not to mention something while actually making people notice it
Briefly mention something while saying you will not give the important details
Saying you will not talk about something to draw attention to it
How Emphatic
Surface Forms
Morphology
paralepsis = para + lepsis
This is a learned Greek borrowing built from classical elements, but the root is not a transparent standalone English word for most learners.
Etymology
Paralepsis comes from Greek parts para- meaning 'beside' and -lepsis meaning 'to leave out', and it is like the word ellipsis, which also shows omission. So, paralepsis is a way to make people notice something by pretending to ignore it, as when someone says 'I won't mention his mistakes' and everyone thinks about them.