Dictionary

paralipsis en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌpæ.ɹəˈlɪp.sɪs/ (UK, US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Ancient Greek παράλειψις (paráleipsis, “omission”), from παραλείπω (paraleípō, “I pass over”), from παρά (pará, “by, near”) + λείπω (leípō, “I leave”).

Meanings

1. (countable, rhetoric, uncountable) A figure of speech in which one pretends to ignore or omit something by actually mentioning it.
   • These negatives are a paraleipsis: what cannot be done to the soul can be done to the body. 1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae:
   • Oxenberg tells us twice that she does not talk about the sister who died. She fools no one with this paralipsis […]. 2008, Alisa Lebow, First Person Jewish, page 60:
   • What's left to consider? I am loath to bring up Trump's paralipsis. 2016 November 2, Slate:

Forms

Deriveds

paraliptic

Synonyms

apophasis · preterition

Translations (8)

it paralissi (figure of speech — see also apophasis) · fr paralipse (figure of speech — see also apophasis) · pl paralipsa (figure of speech — see also apophasis) · fi paralipsis (figure of speech — see also apophasis) · it preterizione (figure of speech — see also apophasis) · es paralipsis (figure of speech — see also apophasis) · ga parathagra (figure of speech — see also apophasis) · de Paralipse (figure of speech — see also apophasis)