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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

epistrophe en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ɪˈpɪstrəfi/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin epistrophē, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐπιστροφή (epistrophḗ).

Meanings

  1. (countable, rhetoric, uncountable) The repetition of the same word or words at the end of successive phrases, clauses or sentences.
    • Epistrophe many sentences will close With the same word, in verse as well as prose. 1835, L[arret] Langley, “[Rhetorical Turns.] Epistrophe.”, in A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster, South Yorkshire: […] C. White, […], →OCLC, page 75:
  2. (countable, uncountable) An arrangement of chlorophyll grains on the outer surface of plant cells, as opposed to apostrophe (an arrangement at right angles to the surface).
    • As is well known, chloroplast in the epistrophe position presents an oval or more or less circular form; in the apostrophe position a flattened and lenticular form. 1905 September 8, Harold Wager, “On Some Problems of Cell Structure and Physiology”, in English Mechanics and the World of Science, volume 82, number 2111, page 105:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
epistrophes Number=Plur lexicographic

Antonyms

anaphora

Relateds

refrain · anadiplosis

Synonyms

antistrophe · epiphora