Auxesis (ok-see’-sis): (1) Arranging words or clauses in a sequence of increasing force. In this sense, auxesis is comparable to climax and has sometimes been called incrementum. (2) A figure of speech in which something is referred to in terms disproportionately large (a kind of exaggeration or hyperbole). (3) Amplification in general.
(1) At first we were irritated, then angry, now horrified and outraged!
We read the news. We trust the news. I have heard more lies masked as hyperbole coming from the White House than I’ve ever experienced from the press. All I can do is ask “What the hell is going on?”
(2) I look at Washington, DC and get the impression that our liberal democracy is on the verge of disappearing–of turning into a puff of smoke (and mirrors).
I am worried more these days than ever before about the health of the Republic, even as “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” I am fearful that “liberty and justice for all” will somehow get deleted (perhaps by an executive order critical of fake patriotism).
- Post your own auxesis on the “Comments” page!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
The Daily Trope 