Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Peripeteia.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative form of
peripeteia .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a sudden and unexpected change of fortune or reverse of circumstances (especially in a literary work)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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"peripety," or sudden reversal of circumstances, on which the plot of the "H.llenica" hinges, see Grote, "H. G." x.
Hellenica 431 BC-350? BC Xenophon 1874
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It is a turning-point, a veritable moral peripety, though the decisive step was taken long ago.
Cyropaedia 2007
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For the “peripety,” or sudden reversal of circumstances, on which the plot of the
Hellenica 2007
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And, in a real peripety, it turns out that the area of political science where mathematics has had the greatest success is elections, the most exciting and decisive part of democratic life, where public opinion turns into government and policy.
THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND Allan Bloom 2003
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And, in a real peripety, it turns out that the area of political science where mathematics has had the greatest success is elections, the most exciting and decisive part of democratic life, where public opinion turns into government and policy.
THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND Allan Bloom 2003
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The peripety was according to the best rules of tragic art.
Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story Max Beerbohm 1914
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Hence a sudden and complete peripety in the student's mind.
Seven Men Max Beerbohm 1914
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For him to fall in love was itself a violent peripety, bound to produce a violent upheaval; and such was his pride that for his love to be unrequited would naturally enamour him of death.
Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story Max Beerbohm 1914
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For him to fall in love was itself a violent peripety, bound to produce a violent up-heaval; and such was his pride that for his love to be unrequited would naturally enamour him of death.
Zuleika Dobson 1911
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The peripety was according to the best rules of tragic art.
Zuleika Dobson 1911
chained_bear commented on the word peripety
"'How would you render peripateia?'
"'Why surely a reverse. But no doubt you mean it in the dramatical sense: can you not say peripety in English? The French certainly have péripétie; though to be sure they use it loosely, in the sense of ordinary vicissitudes.'
"'I believe I have seen peripety. But it is scarcely current English...'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Letter of Marque, 178–179
February 29, 2008
knitandpurl commented on the word peripety
The literal meaning of Peripecias del no is "Peripeties of No," but while the title works great in Spanish, in English, it is inkhorn.
Darren Koolman's Translator's Preface to The No Variations by Luis Chitarroni
September 12, 2013