Auxesis (figure of speech)
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Auxesis (Greek: αὔξησις, aúxēsis) is the Greek word for "growth" or "increase". In rhetoric, it refers to varying forms of increase:
- hyperbole (overstatement): intentionally overstating a point, its importance, or its significance[1][2][3]
- climax (ascending series): a series of clauses of increasing force[4]
- amplificatio (rhetorical increase): extension or exaggerated, needless repetition of arguments to emphasize the point
In Ancient Greece, it was also sometimes known as auxanein ("growing").
See also
- figure of speech
- meiosis and litotes, the opposite of auxesis in its hyperbolic sense
- anticlimax, the opposite of auxesis in its climactic sense
References
- ↑ Encarta World English Dictionary (1999)
- ↑ The Times English Dictionary (2000)
- ↑ OED 1st edition
- ↑ Gideon O. Burton, Brigham Young University Silva Rhetoricae
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