Dictionary

paraprosdokian en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌpæɹəˌpɹoʊsˈdoʊkiən/

Etymology

From Ancient Greek παρά (pará, “against”) + προσδοκία (prosdokía, “expectation”).

Meanings

1. (rhetoric) A figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part.
   • This style of comic poetry, a kind of parody of the Ballad, a series of quatrains generally leading up to a paraprosdokian or surprise in the fourth line, was initiated by [Oliver] Goldsmith in this merry tale. 1906, J. C. Stobart, The Johnson Epoch (Epochs of English literature), volume VII, London: E. Arnold, page 144:

Forms

Relateds

non sequitur · bathos

Translations (3)

zh 句子在最后有意想不到的结尾 (figure of speech) · fi yllätys (figure of speech) · zh 句子在最後有意想不到的結尾 (figure of speech)