Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the end of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs, as
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In rhetoric, a figure in which several successive clauses or sentences end with the same word or affirmation: as, “Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham ? so am I.”
- noun In music, in a cyclic composition, the original concluding melody, phrase, or section, when repeated at the end of the several divisions; a refrain.
- noun In botany, the arrangement of chlorophyl-grains, under the influence of light, on the surface-walls of cells and on those parts of the walls which bound intercellular spaces (Frank), or more properly on those walls which are at right angles to the plane of incident light.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rhet.) A figure in which successive clauses end with the same word or affirmation; e. g., “Are they Hebrews?
so am I . Are they Israelites?so am I .”
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rhetoric The
repetition of the same word or words at the end of successivephrases , clauses or sentences.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun repetition of the ends of two or more successive sentences, verses, etc.
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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By contrast, repetition of a word or phrase at the end of a series of sentences is called epistrophe.
The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - washingtonpost.com Michael Dirda 2011
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Each line in the poem ends with a word ending in “ed” (a variation on the device known as epistrophe, the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of a line).
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This parallelism is used in conjunction with epistrophe.
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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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Books Four and Five, originally planned as one book, discuss the return (epistrophe, reditus, reversio) of all things to God.
John Scottus Eriugena Moran, Dermot 2004
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The cardinal principle upon which his attempt rests is the doctrine, already foreshadowed by Iamblichus and others, that in the process of emanation there are always three subordinate stages, or moments, namely the original (mone), emergence from the original (proodos), and return to the original (epistrophe).
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10: Mass Music-Newman 1840-1916 1913
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His care and direction in its appointed sphere, and draws them again in an ascending order to Himself (epistrophe).
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5: Diocese-Fathers of Mercy 1840-1916 1913
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There are three words in scripture to express it by, metame'leia, meta'noia, and epistrophe `; though this last rather signifies conversion.
Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions. Vol. VI. 1634-1716 1823
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Preachers at black churches are the last people left in the English-speaking world who know the schemes and tropes of classical rhetoric: parallelism, antithesis, epistrophe, synec-doche, metonymy, periphrasis, litotes-the whole bag of tricks.
The Two Malcontents 2009
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In classical Greek philosophy, and especially in Plato, the epistrophe or periagoge in the above passage refers to the
Latest Articles 2008
jmjarmstrong commented on the word epistrophe
JM in 2000 enjoyed the use of epistrophe -- marvellous! Then in 2001 he enjoyed it even more -- marvellous! 2002 saw the enjoyment continuing - marvellous! Right through 2003, and into 2004, the same -- marvellous! And then, for the past six years -- marvellous! But, he's stopped enjoying it so much lately.
March 29, 2011