Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The omission of conjunctions from constructions in which they would normally be used, as in
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In rhetoric, a figure of speech consisting in the omission of connectives, as in the following passage:
- noun It is the opposite of
polysyndeton , which is a multiplication of connectives.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rhet.) A figure which omits the connective. It stands opposed to
polysyndeton .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rhetoric A stylistic
scheme in whichconjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of words, phrases,clauses .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the omission of conjunctions where they would normally be used
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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W. Sean McLaughlin, of Alexandria, Virginia, wrote, I was immediately inspired by the arcane grammatical term asyndeton [defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as 'the omission of conjunctions from constructions in which they would normally be used'] and thought minor modifications might yield the right meaning: a-senditon.
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W. Sean McLaughlin, of Alexandria, Virginia, wrote, I was immediately inspired by the arcane grammatical term asyndeton [defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as 'the omission of conjunctions from constructions in which they would normally be used'] and thought minor modifications might yield the right meaning: a-senditon.
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[23] The "asyndeton" would seem to mark a pause, unless some words have dropped out.
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This figure often occurs public address with others such as antithesis, anaphora, asyndeton, climax, epistrophe and symploce.
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Therefore the figure asyndeton, whereby conjunctions are omitted, is highly commended by writers of rhetoric.
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= The asyndeton in this distich is odd, given the preceding series of connectives.
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Grant points out to me the asyndeton following _quaere ... sintne_.
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According to the manuscripts the preceding line ends with VTAR; I have printed Heinsius 'VSVS, since there would otherwise be an asyndeton between _utar_ and _aspiciam_.
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Lot makes his summons urgent: "Rise, go forth" -- effective asyndeton.
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The asyndeton of the last clause marks the writer's (or speaker's) indignation.
hernesheir commented on the word asyndeton
Peas, beans, barley, corn, clawfoot tubs, ideas.
January 17, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word asyndeton
cf. polysyndeton, "Two all-beef patties and special sauce and lettuce and cheese and pickles and onions on a sesame seed bun" might be called a Mcpolysyndeton.
January 17, 2009
knitandpurl commented on the word asyndeton
"By analyzing this "modern art of everyday expression" as it appears in accounts of spatial practices, J.-F. Augoyard discerns in it two especially fundamental stylistic figures: synecdoche and asyndeton."
The Practice of Everyday Life by Michel de Certeau, p 101
March 25, 2011
bojan commented on the word asyndeton
"In some ways, he was this town at its best--strong, hard-driving, working feverishly, pushing, building, driven by ambitions so big they seemed Texas-boastful."
(Mike Royko, "A Tribute")
July 14, 2011