Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In rhetoric, a feigned refusal; an ironical dissimulation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Rhet.) Affected refusal; coyness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun rhetoric Feigning disinterest in something while actually desiring it.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἀκκισμός (akkismos, "prudery")

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Examples

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Comments

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  • No, never mind. I don't want you to add this to your Wordie list...

    March 1, 2007

  • It works every time. . .well, maybe not every time, but this time.

    June 17, 2007

  • Rhetorical device of pretending to refuse.

    May 16, 2008

  • I simply couldn't ...

    June 3, 2008

  • JM really doesn’t want to use the word ‘accismus’, really he doesn’t – oh all right then he will!

    March 5, 2009