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antimetabole. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
antimetabole, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Examples
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- "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy
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Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἀντιμεταβολή (antimetabolḗ). By surface analysis, anti- (“opposite”) + Ancient Greek μετᾰβολή (metabolḗ, “transformation”).
Pronunciation
Noun
antimetabole (countable and uncountable, plural antimetaboles)
- (rhetoric) The technique of repeating a phrase while reversing the order of certain elements or its grammatical structure, as a form of juxtaposition.
Langley,
A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, , Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate,
→OCLC,
page 90:
Antimetabole at effect will strain,
And words and terms revers'd employ again.]
2008, Michael E Eidenmuller, Great Speeches For Better Speaking, page 92:"Mankind must put an end to war or else war will put an end to mankind." Many other instances may be found in kind. As one reserves fine china for the most special occasions and in only the most select company, so Kennedy used his beloved antimetabole.
Translations
See also
Further reading
Italian
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἀντιμεταβολή (antimetabolḗ).
Noun
antimetabole f (plural antimetaboli)
- antimetabole