Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rhetoric Witty dialog or response.
- noun rhetoric In dialog, a
retort based on a punning use of another speaker's word or metaphor.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Latin astĕïsmŏs ("the more refined style of speaking"), from Ancient Greek ἀστείσμός (asteismos)
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Examples
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(the transposition of letters in a word), asteismus (a figure of reply; a facetious or mocking answer), and figures of deliberate obscurity (enigma, noema, schematismus) are cited by such
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