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Breaking off in the middle of a sentence (as by writers of realistic conversations)
Answer for the clue "Breaking off in the middle of a sentence (as by writers of realistic conversations) ", 11 letters:
aposiopesis
Word definitions for aposiopesis in dictionaries
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
Aposiopesis (; Classical Greek : ἀποσιώπησις, "becoming silent") is a figure of speech wherein a sentence is deliberately broken off and left unfinished, the ending to be supplied by the imagination, giving an impression of unwillingness or inability to ...
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. (context rhetoric English) An abrupt breaking-off in speech.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Aposiopesis \Ap`o*si`o*pe"sis\ (?; 277), n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, from ? to be quite silent.] (Rhet.) A figure of speech in which the speaker breaks off suddenly, as if unwilling or unable to state what was in his mind; as, ``I declare to you that his conduct ...
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
rhetorical artifice wherein the speaker suddenly breaks off in the middle of a sentence, 1570s, from Latin, from Greek aposiopesis "a becoming silent," also as a rhetorical figure, from apo- (see apo- ) + siope "silence."
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. breaking off in the middle of a sentence (as by writers of realistic conversations) [also: aposiopeses (pl)]
Usage examples of aposiopesis.
They discovered an Ancient site that they call Aposiopesis, one they had missed before, and there it was.
It is a hotbed of Ancient sites, good ones, regarded as shrines to Aposiopesis.
Mrs Forrester found these uncompleted sentences, the Greek rhetorical device of aposiopesis, very handy in her duties as president.