tricolon
1
9.2
- noun
- /ˈtraɪkəˌlɒn/
- Literature
- In his speech, the politician used a tricolon to emphasize his point: "We need education, jobs, and justice."
Examples
-
The deliberate and skillful art of Moulsworth appears perhaps most of all in her restraint, her avoidance of tricolon except at these climaxes.
Fiction book (1996) -
The effects of the tricolon, as of any number of other figures, are in some ways metrical.
Blog text (25) -
After that, I examine effects of pairing: anadiplosis, hendiadys, antithesis, and conclude with tricolon.
Fiction book (1996) -
"Among the devices Steggle considers are antimetabole, anadiplosis, hendiadys, antithesis, and tricolon.
Fiction book (1996) -
At its heart lies not a truth or a meaning, but anxiety, which Heidegger explored as an encounter with nothingness, but which Derrida here cites with a resounding tricolon on "the game."
Academic text (2000) -
A common example of a tricolon is the phrase "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
-
The writer effectively employed tricolon by stating, "I came, I saw, I conquered" to create a memorable impact.
Synonyms
Repeating a word or phrase three times to add emphasis
Surface Forms
Morphology
tricolon = colon (semi-transparent) = tri + colon
The prefix 'tri-' means three, and 'colon' refers to a rhetorical unit, but the specialized rhetorical meaning is not obvious to most learners.
Etymology
Tricolon starts with tri- (the same root as trio and triple) meaning 'three', and ends with colon, from an old Greek word for 'part' or 'clause'. So a tricolon is a set of three words or phrases used together to give rhythm and extra emphasis in speech.