Antimetabole

//ˌæn.tɪ.məˈtæ.bə.li// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The technique of repeating a phrase while reversing the order of certain elements or its grammatical structure, as a form of juxtaposition. countable, rhetoric, uncountable

    "Antimetabole at effect will strain, And words and terms revers'd employ again."

Example

More examples

"Antimetabole at effect will strain, And words and terms revers'd employ again."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀντιμεταβολή (antimetabolḗ). By surface analysis, anti- (“opposite”) + Ancient Greek μετᾰβολή (metăbolḗ, “transformation”).

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