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Aposiopesis

//ˌæpəsaɪəˈpiːsɪs// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An abrupt breaking-off in speech, often indicated in print using an ellipsis (…) or an em dash (—). countable, rhetoric, uncountable

    "—"My ſiſter, mayhap," quoth my uncle Toby, "does not chooſe to let a man come ſo near her ****" Make this daſh—'tis an Apoſiopeſis.—Take the daſh away, and write Backſide,—'tis Bawdy."

  2. 2
    breaking off in the middle of a sentence (as by writers of realistic conversations) wordnet

Etymology

From Latin aposiopesis, from Ancient Greek ἀποσιώπησις (aposiṓpēsis), from ἀποσιωπάω (aposiōpáō, “be silent”), from ἀπό (apó, “off, from”) + σιωπάω (siōpáō, “to be silent”).

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