noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Unusual word order, often involving an inversion of the usual pattern of the sentence. countable, rhetoric, uncountable

   "Anastrophe often, by a pleasing change, Gracefuly puts last the words that first should range."

2. 2
   the reversal of the normal order of words wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

inversionfigure of speechhyperbatonhysteron proteroninversionmalapropism

Example

More examples

"Anastrophe, by switching around words, has the effect of emphasizing text."

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀναστροφή (anastrophḗ), from ἀνα- (ana-, “up”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.