Antanaclasis

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The repeated use of the same word or phrase, but with a different meaning each time; a kind of paronomasia. countable, rhetoric, uncountable

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀντανάκλασις (antanáklasis, “reflection, bending back”), from ἀντί (antí, “against”) + ἀνά (aná, “up”) + κλάσις (klásis, “breaking”).

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