Comparatio (com-pa-ra’-ti-o): A general term for a comparison, either as a figure of speech or as an argument. More specific terms are generally employed, such as metaphor, simile, allegory, etc.
Your leadership style is like a tornado on ice.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Comprobatio (com-pro-ba’-ti-o): Approving and commending a virtue, especially in the hearers.
You persisted. You wouldn’t back down. You took personal risks. You gave us all a shining example of courage, non-violence, and wisdom in action–a rare combination of virtues; a rarity that we can’t forget.
The pipeline was put on hold and we hold you responsible for enabling a judge, in good conscience, to see it our way and grant the stay.
Now, we are faced with the stay’s unravelling. Now we are faced with beginning again. I trust you will continue to display the same virtues in action so that we may influence a judge, build sympathy for our cause, and permanently block the pipeline’s construction.
Thank-you.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Conduplicatio (con-du-pli-ca’-ti-o): The repetition of a word or words. A general term for repetition sometimes carrying the more specific meaning of repetition of words in adjacent phrases or clauses. Sometimes used to name either ploce or epizeuxis.
Trump so far: The first 100 days. The first 100 fiascos. The first 100 tweets. The first 100 regrets. The first 100 people stuck in airports.
The first 100 times I ever had misgivings about American democracy’s ability to elect capable Presidents (no matter what their party affiliation or political agendas) who abide by the Constitution and treat “We the people” with respect.
I’m tired of hearing about fake news, cry babies, and all the other insults.
The next 100 days: Grow up and start acting like the President of the United States of America, instead of a low-budget gossip columnist sending slop off a Twitter feed whenever the impulse moves you.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].
Ice, slipping. Rain, drenching. Snow, drifting. Sunshine, blinding. Clouds & snow again–all in one afternoon. Welcome to Central New York (CNY) where we play weather roulette trying to plan our days and nights around (or in spite of) the weather.
I’m thinking of inventing a combo tool just for CNY: Umbrella, snow brush, ice scraper, an all-in-one weather-thwarting tool.
Sunglasses sold separately.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.
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Consonance: The repetition of consonants in words stressed in the same place (but whose vowels differ). Also, a kind of inverted alliteration, in which final consonants, rather than initial or medial ones, repeat in nearby words. Consonance is more properly a term associated with modern poetics than with historical rhetorical terminology.
I thought you went crazy, as hazy as you were about the crash, but cash will bring you back to clarity–a rarity even with money on the table and no accident to speak of. Now tell us, what happened and it’ll be a payday. Anyway, just tell us what you remember. The more detail, the better.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Correctio (cor-rec’-ti-o): The amending of a term or phrase just employed; or, a further specifying of meaning, especially by indicating what something is not (which may occur either before or after the term or phrase used). A kind of redefinition, often employed as a parenthesis (an interruption) or as a climax.
I think this is one of the best social events I’ve ever attended! No, I take that back. This is the best social event I’ve ever been to: the slow dancing frogs were a complete surprise! What can I say–THE BEST!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Deesis (de’-e-sis): An adjuration (solemn oath) or calling to witness; or, the vehement expression of desire put in terms of “for someone’s sake” or “for God’s sake.”
For God’s sake, slow down! There’s no way I want to die in a traffic accident on my way to the mall.
I swear, if you don’t slow down, I’ll call 911 on my cellphone and have you arrested!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Dehortatio (de-hor-ta’-ti-o): Dissuasion.
I know you want to take the bus, but you’ve never been to that part of town before & you don’t know the bus stop you’re looking for–you could get lost on the way to an important appointment & miss it.
I’m reserving you a cab & loaning you my credit card to pay for it. When you go by taxi you’ll ‘land’ at the front door and won’t have to walk up and down the street looking for the place.
Here’s my credit card. Simple.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Dendrographia (den-dro-graf’-ia): Creating an illusion of reality through vivid description of a tree.
What is it that grows up so tall–so tall it becomes part of the skyline–cutting black shadows out of early evening and setting them along the edges of my fields?
Some have needles. Some have leaves. Pine and maple–all green in daylight’s sunny bath. The trees’ shadows mark time–as they lengthen, sunset begins to set and the trees’ shadows blanket the fields with rising darkness and a sunset backdrop filtering gently through the trees, making halos of diminishing pink and golden light.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Diacope (di-a’-co-pee): Repetition of a word with one or more between, usually to express deep feeling.
Me boring?
You think I’m boring? Spending time with you is like hanging out with an overripe eggplant
Me boring?
What about the time you made us watch C-span? Watching empty Senate chambers is almost as exciting watching an empty parking lot. Ya-hoo! That was boredom squared!
Me boring?
You’re the one who’s boring!
What do you think of that, most boring person of the century? Why don’t we find something exciting to do, like looking through my baseball card collection?
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Dialogismus (di-a-lo-giz’-mus): Speaking as someone else, either to bring in others’ points of view into one’s own speech, or to conduct a pseudo-dialog through taking up an opposing position with oneself.
‘On Friday I helped make America safe again. These Executive Orders are the best thing going anywhere & I mean it.’
We all know why your Executive Orders are the ‘best thing going.’ It’s because you don’t need to do anything except co-author them with you loony advisors, sign them, and hand them over–a truly convenient way of constituting your authority, bypassing Congress, and literally ‘ruling’ the USA with edicts covering the range of your campaign promises.
However, we would prefer legislation–that Congress play a key role in forming new laws of the land and judges play a role where the Executive Orders (AKA edicts) are contested on Constitutional grounds.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Dianoea (di-a-noe’-a): The use of animated questions and answers in developing an argument (sometimes simply the equivalent of anthypophora).
Where was I last night? Where do you think I was? In a hot tub? At a banquet? Relaxing in the Presidential suite at Trump Towers?
WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
SURPRISE! Despite having a green card and living in the US for the past 5 years, what do you think happened? You’re right: I was detained at JFK & slept on the floor last night. Now, I’m quite hungry! I’m trying to get home to my wife and two baby daughters. They live in New Jersey.
Thank you so much for the displays of solidarity & for the legal assistance.
Wish me luck!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Diaphora (di-a’-pho-ra): Repetition of a common name so as to perform two logical functions: to designate an individual and to signify the qualities connoted by that individual’s name or title.
Professor Smith is not Professor Smith when he ridicules students who’re unable to answer his obtuse questions. In these cases, he’s not even being a professor, let alone a bad professor.
We need professors who are professors–who treat students with respect and enable them to learn all they can possibly learn.
I will have a meeting about this episode with Professor Smith. My hope is that we’ll come up with some kind of plan to get him back on the Professorial track.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Diaporesis: Deliberating with oneself as though in doubt over some matter; asking oneself (or rhetorically asking one’s hearers) what is the best or appropriate way to approach something [=aporia].
What should we do? I’ve examined many alternatives and cannot come up with a suitable plan.
What should we do? I spent hours brainstorming with our biggest fans, but still, I can’t find the answer.
What should we do? I know: take a long break (maybe a week) and then come back at it.
See you later!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.
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Diaskeue (di-as-keu’-ee): Graphic peristasis (description of circumstances) intended to arouse the emotions.
He was kind, merciful, full love, and brutally murdered, here, in this vacant parking lot. His blood has soaked into the black asphalt. His cries for help, though, have dissipated into the cold winter night.
We will find the person who did this. No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.
Please help us with any leads you may have–even if they seem like reckless rumors, or flat-out lies. We want to hear it all.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
Diasyrmus (di’-a-syrm-os): Rejecting an argument through ridiculous comparison.
Claiming that you drove off the road shoulder because you liked the view is like claiming you visit dumps because you like their smell.
Well–possibly it’s true given how much you had to drink–you almost broke the breathalyzer when you fell down during your sobriety test!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Diazeugma (di-a-zoog’-ma): The figure by which a single subject governs several verbs or verbal constructions (usually arranged in parallel fashion and expressing a similar idea); the opposite of zeugma.
I couldn’t make it to lunch today because I forgot about the luncheon, wasn’t hungry enough to eat lunch, and wasn’t ready to meet.
Let’s reschedule for next week. I promise I’ll make it!
Definition courtesy of Silva Rhetoricae (rhetoric.byu.edu)
A paper edition of The Daily Trope, entitled The Book of Tropes, is available for purchase on Amazon for $9.99 USD. It contains over 200 schemes and tropes with their definitions and examples of each. All of the schemes and tropes are indexed, so it’s easy to find the one you’re looking for. Not only that, the examples of schemes and tropes may prompt you to try to create your own examples and use them as a writing exercise and as springboards for creating longer narratives.
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Dicaeologia (di-kay-o-lo’-gi-a): Admitting what’s charged against one, but excusing it by necessity.
A: Did you pee on the bed?
B: Yes, but I didn’t really want to do it. The cadre of ‘property developers’ told me it was a “top secret” fundraising event. Put that way, I couldn’t say no.
And I say, ok, why not? It’s just a bed in a hotel room. My experience as a real estate investor is all I need to make the best choices about things like this: I say no harm no foul: NEWS MEDIA get off my back!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
A paper edition of The Daily Trope, entitled The Book of Tropes, is available for purchase on Amazon for $9.99 USD. It contains over 200 schemes and tropes with their definitions and examples of each. All of the schemes and tropes are indexed, so it’s easy to find the one you’re looking for. Not only that, the examples of schemes and tropes may prompt you to try to create your own examples as a writing/speaking exercise, and use them as springboards for creating longer narratives.
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Dilemma (di-lem’-ma): Offering to an opponent a choice between two (equally unfavorable) alternatives.
Let’s see–you spent all the money that you borrowed from me, and now it’s time to pay me back. You knew ‘paying back’ was part of the deal and you have not shown any interest in paying me back.
So, which are you going to do: work off what you borrowed by working around the house and yard, or taking out a loan from a real bank and paying me back.
What’s it going to be: work it off, or take out another loan?
Post your own dilemma on the “Comments” page!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
A paper edition of The Daily Trope, entitled The Book of Tropes, is available for purchase on Amazon for $9.99 USD. It contains over 200 schemes and tropes with their definitions and examples of each. All of the schemes and tropes are indexed, so it’s easy to find the one you’re looking for. Not only that, the examples of schemes and tropes may prompt you to try to create your own examples and use them as springboards for creating longer narratives.
Dirimens Copulatio (di’-ri-mens ko-pu-la’-ti-o): A figure by which one balances one statement with a contrary, qualifying statement (sometimes conveyed by “not only … but also” clauses). A sort of arguing both sides of an issue.
Protagoras (c. 485-410 BC) asserted that “to every logos (speech or argument) another logos is opposed,” a theme continued in the Dissoi Logoi of his time, later codified as the notion of arguments in utrumque partes (on both sides). Aristotle asserted that thinking in opposites is necessary both to arrive at the true state of a matter (opposition as an epistemological heuristic) and to anticipate counterarguments. This latter, practical purpose for investigating opposing arguments has been central to rhetoric ever since sophists like Antiphon (c. 480-410 BC) provided model speeches (his Tetralogies) showing how one might argue for either the prosecution or for the defense on any given issue. As such, [this] names not so much a figure of speech as a general approach to rhetoric, or an overall argumentative strategy. However, it could be manifest within a speech on a local level as well, especially for the purposes of exhibiting fairness (establishing ethos [audience perception of speaker credibility]).
This pragmatic embrace of opposing arguments permeates rhetorical invention, arrangement, and rhetorical pedagogy
I want a muffin for breakfast. Not only that, I want it toasted in the toaster-oven and buttered to perfection. Not only is it your turn to cook this week, but it is time for us to figure out how to make muffins. But you disagree? Come on, no time for that: get out the flour, the cranberries, the butter, the mixing bowl, the sugar, and most important, a spatula.
Definition and commentary courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
A paper edition of The Daily Trope, entitled The Book of Tropes, is available for purchase on Amazon for $9.99 USD. It contains over 200 schemes and tropes with their definitions and examples of each. All of the schemes and tropes are indexed, so it’s easy to find the one you’re looking for. Not only that, the examples of schemes and tropes may prompt you to try to create your own examples and use them as springboards for creating longer narratives.
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Distinctio (dis-tinc’-ti-o): Eliminating ambiguity surrounding a word by explicitly specifying each of its distinct meanings.
Love: A desire for the ‘other.’
Love’s desire ranges from carnal to Platonic. Accordingly, one may claim to love another person on the basis of a carnal desire for the other person. I know it’s stupid, but it’s what we do.
But carnal desire and its fulfillment set a shaky foundation for love: Why shaky? Because it demands love making: a bodily experience whose gratification is short-lived. Its repetition in a given relationship gives it a slight echo of love’s eternity, but its ‘carnal truth’ is short lived & we all know it.
Platonic love is set on a more enduring, stable and appropriate foundation and best deserves the name of Love–it is closer to a spiritual experience. As it has been handed down, Platonic Love requires a relationship grounded in edifying communication. It fosters learning the IDEA of love, and it’s love’s Idea rightly learned that prompts and aims one’s particular ‘loves’ to be taken up with a MUTUAL focus on the IDEA of love, not each other’s bodies. (See Plato’s Phaedrus)
So, it looks like to be happy, maybe one must ‘go Platonic’ and come to understand that it isn’t simply desire that pulls us through life in the right direction, it is RIGHT desire. In this case, it is a desire for edifying love, that may rarely include sex, but whose prominent characteristic is the mutual exploration of Love’s IDEA, and striving to learn together, and affect the RIGHT IDEA together. That is, insofar as their co-presence constitutes a relationship, the relationship is grounded in a mutual desire, conversationally, to explore the question: What is love?
Now ask what love is for you: Is it the repetition of lust’s fulfillment, or an eternal IDEA that enables you to KNOW whether you’ve met your soulmate and allows your soulmate to work out their understanding of the concept of love in a conversation, where participants bear the conversational burden, through Q&A toward discovering a mutually satisfying IDEA of love–an Idea of Love that one might trust because of its foundation in Truth and rejection of carnality.
A paper edition of The Daily Trope, entitled The Book of Tropes, is available for purchase on Amazon for $9.99 USD. It contains over 200 schemes and tropes with their definitions and at least 2 examples of each. All of the schemes and tropes are indexed, so it’s easy to find the one you’re looking for. Not only that, the examples of schemes and tropes may prompt you to try to create one scheme or trope per day, starting with abating.
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Distributio (dis-tri-bu’-ti-o): (1) Assigning roles among or specifying the duties of a list of people, sometimes accompanied by a conclusion. (2) Sometimes this term is simply a synonym for diaeresis or merismus, which are more general figures involving division.
Here’s the breakdown: Pat, you take care of the garden hose. Nimmy, put the mower away. Joey, you go ahead and complain about how “labor intensive” it is to put things away.
By the way, your bedroom’s scattered worldly goods are crying out to be picked up and put away–but you ignore them. Listen to their pleading voices, and also, your laundry basket is tearfully telling you it feels “empty inside.”
No wonder! It is empty inside. Take pity on your laundry basket. Fill it up, carry it to the laundry room, put your laundry in the washer, let it wash. Dry it in the dryer and return it to its habitat: your bedroom closet, your bedroom dresser, and the hook on the back of your bedroom door.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Ecphonesis (ec-pho-nee’-sis): An emotional exclamation.
Pat: “I’m going crazy!”
Sam: “So am I! Let’s dance!”
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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Effictio (ef-fik’-ti-o): A verbal depiction of someone’s body, often from head to toe.
Note: This figure was used in forensic rhetoric (legal argumentation) for purposes of clearly identifying an alleged criminal. It has often been adapted to poetical uses.
He was lying on his back in a pool of blood in the alleyway between the “Bar of Good Hope” and a hardware store. His head looked like a pumpkin that had been sitting on somebody’s porch steps for a month. It was caved in on both sides–mercilessly crushed by the assailant’s baseball bat, which was lying on the concrete walkway alongside the victim. The victim’s brown eyes had a dull film over them and the victim wasn’t breathing, leaving no doubt that he was dead. I checked his pulse anyway. Dead. Dead as can be.
He was around six feet-three inches tall with sandy blond hair. He was wearing a gold wedding band. In addition, he was wearing red shorts, a black T-shirt, and expensive jogging shoes. He was muscular–broad shoulders and sculpted biceps, flat stomach, and legs that looked like he could out-sprint anybody on the body-recovery team.
He had no identification, so he would be admitted to the morgue as “John Doe.” Perhaps the assailant stole his wallet, but the brutality of the beating, and leaving the murder weapon behind, indicate this was a crime of passion: of anger, of love gone bad, or one of the other seemingly endless motives involved in murder.
Next, we need to figure out who this dead guy is, and then, create a list of suspects, and haul them into the Station for interrogation.
It’s not going to be easy solving this one. But once it hits the press, we may get some leads. Also, we’ll be checking fingerprints.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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Ellipsis (el-lip’-sis): Omission of a word or short phrase easily understood in context.
There’s too much stuff piling up on the dining room table. Periodicals. Bills. Catalogs. Newspapers. Empty coffee mugs. Dead flowers. A bundt cake. Potato chips. Crackers. Empty wine bottle. And more.
We need to clear it off!
Who’s going to make the first move?
You help me, and I you.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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