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Also apophthegm. A terse, pithy saying, akin to a proverb, maxim, or aphorism. aposiopesis A rhetorical device in which speech is broken off abruptly and the sentence is left unfinished. apostrophe A figure of speech in which a speaker breaks off from addressing the audience (e.g., in a play) and directs speech to a third party such as an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes ...
The most precise studies into language change and word formation, in fact, identify the process of a "neological continuum": a nonce word is any single-use term that may or may not grow in popularity; a protologism is such a term used exclusively within a small group; a prelogism is such a term that is gaining usage but still not mainstream ...
In literary criticism, a bildungsroman (German pronunciation: [ˈbɪldʊŋs.ʁoˌmaːn], plural bildungsromane, German pronunciation: [ˈbɪldʊŋs.ʁoˌmaːnə]) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age), [1] in which character change is important.
In editorial practice, a trope is "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase". [2] Semantic change has expanded the definition of the literary term trope to also describe a writer's usage of commonly recurring or overused literary techniques and rhetorical devices (characters and situations), [3] [4] [5] motifs, and ...
After a word enters a language, its meaning can change as through a shift in the valence of its connotations. As an example, when "villain" entered English it meant 'peasant' or 'farmhand', but acquired the connotation 'low-born' or 'scoundrel', and today only the negative use survives. Thus 'villain' has undergone pejoration.
After all, what is the meaning of "Auld Lang Syne"? "Auld Lang Syne" has its origins in the Scottish language, which explains why so much of it may as well be Greek to most of us.
Oxford University Press is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its lexicographers naming an English-language word or expression that reflects the world during the last 12 months. “Looking back ...
The broader significance of this year’s winner: Oxford’s 2022 word of the year was “goblin mode,” a slang term referring to “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent ...