preterition
/,pri:tə'riʃn/
Definition
- Noun:
- A rhetorical device of mentioning something by stating that it will not be mentioned: The act of passing over or omitting something, often while drawing attention to that very omission. In rhetoric, it is a figure of speech where the speaker or writer brings up a subject by either denying it or claiming to omit it.
- The act of passing over or omitting; omission: The state of being passed over or neglected.
Examples of Usage
- Noun:
- The politician's preterition of the scandal was obvious when he said, "I won't even mention the recent allegations." (Here, the politician uses preterition by claiming to omit the topic, thereby highlighting it.)
- The author employed preterition to emphasize the character's tragic past without describing it in detail.
- His speech was full of preteritions, each one subtly pointing to the issues he pretended to avoid.
Advanced Usage
- Legal and Theological Contexts: In some specialized fields like theology (particularly Calvinist doctrine) or law, "preterition" can refer to the act of passing over or the state of being passed over. For example, in theology, it may relate to God's passing over of the non-elect.
- The debate centered on the doctrine of preterition and election.
Variants and Related Words
- Preterit/Preterite (adj/n): (In grammar) A tense expressing an action that has happened or a state that previously existed. This is a distinct word but shares the Latin root (, meaning "to go by").
- Omission (n): The act of leaving out or failing to include something; a more general synonym.
Synonyms
- Paralipsis (n): A rhetorical device identical to preterition, where one emphasizes a point by pretending to pass over it.
- Omission (n): The act of leaving something out.
- Exclusion (n): The process of leaving someone or something out.
Related Phrases/Idioms
- "To say by not saying": This phrase captures the essence of preterition as a rhetorical strategy.
- Her criticism was a classic case of saying by not saying, a skillful preterition.
Noun
-
suggesting by deliberately concise treatment that much of significance is omitted
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