Epiplexis
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A rhetorical device where a sequence of rhetorical questions is used to criticise or blame, or more generally, to elicit an emotional response. rhetoric
"Afterwards, questioners employ the rhetorical figure called epiplexis. This interrogative figure is designed to blame the addressee, posing trick questions whose goal is to reveal whatever the speaker considers to be his or her faults. Epiplexis is backed up by cataplexis."
- 2 a rhetorical device in which the speaker reproaches the audience in order to incite or convince them wordnet
Example
More examples"Afterwards, questioners employ the rhetorical figure called epiplexis. This interrogative figure is designed to blame the addressee, posing trick questions whose goal is to reveal whatever the speaker considers to be his or her faults. Epiplexis is backed up by cataplexis."
Etymology
From Latin epiplexis (“rebuke”), from Ancient Greek ἐπίπληξις (epíplēxis, “rebuke”), from ἐπιπλήσσω (epiplḗssō, “to chastise”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “upon”) (see epi-) + πλήσσω (plḗssō, “to strike”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.