Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In rhetoric, a figure consisting in immediate revocation of a word or statement in order to correct, justify, mitigate, or intensify it, usually the last: as, “Most brave act. Brave, did I say? Most heroic act.” Also called epidiorthosis.

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

  • noun A figure by which a speaker recalls a word or words, in order to substitute something else stronger or more significant; as, Most brave! Brave, did I say? most heroic act!

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

  • noun rhetoric A rhetorical device or element in which a speaker or writer retracts a word that has been spoken and substitutes a stronger or more suitable word; often done for emphasis or sarcasm.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun immediate rephrasing for intensification or justification

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἐπανόρθωσις (epanórthosis, "correction")

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Examples

  • And lest he should seem to derogate any thing from the grace of God, in asserting the necessity and use of faith, he adds that epanorthosis, “And that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”

    The Doctrine of Justification by Faith 1616-1683 1965

  • Anaphora should not be confused with epanorthosis, the repetitious use of a particular term for emphasis: the word element in certain of Ben Jonson's poems, for example.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XII No 1 1985

  • He had a necessity incumbent on him of declaring the great labour he had undergone, and the pains he had taken in "preaching of the gospel;" but yet immediately, lest anyone should apprehend that he ascribed any thing to himself, any gracious, holy actings in those labours, he adds his usual epanorthosis, "Not I;" -- "Let me not be mistaken; it was not I, by any power of mine, by any thing in me, but it was all wrought in me by the free grace of the Spirit of God."

    Pneumatologia 1616-1683 1967

Comments

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  • JM likes epanorthosis! Likes, did I say? No, loves!

    March 29, 2011

  • The immediate rephrasing of something said in order to correct it or to make it stronger. Usually indicated by: no, nay, rather, I mean.

    Example: I've warned you a thousand, no, a million times.

    July 29, 2015

  • That was so incredible I need hyperbole, no, epanorthosis, to describe how it felt.

    July 29, 2015