<P> Owing to its origin in ancient Greece and Rome, English rhetorical theory frequently employs Greek and Latin words as terms of art . This page explains commonly used rhetorical terms in alphabetical order . The brief definitions here are intended to serve as a quick reference rather than an in - depth discussion . For more information, click the terms . </P> <Ul> <Li> Absurdity . The exaggeration of a point beyond belief . </Li> <Li> Accumulatio . The emphasis or summary of previously made points or inferences by excessive praise or accusation . </Li> <Li> Acutezza . Wit or wordplay used in rhetoric . </Li> <Li> Ad hominem . Rebutting an argument by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making it rather than the substance of the argument itself . </Li> <Li> Adjunction . When a verb is placed at the beginning or the end of a sentence instead of in the middle . For example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "At the beginning, as follows:' Fades physical beauty with disease or age .' At the end, as follows:' Either with disease or age physical beauty fades ."' </Li> <Li> Aesthetics . The examination of symbolic expression to determine its rhetorical possibilities . </Li> <Li> Aetiologia . Giving a cause or a reason . </Li> <Li> Affectus . A term used by the Italian Humanists of the Renaissance to describe the source of emotions or passions in the human mind . </Li> <Li> Agenda . That which a persuader successfully makes salient and then spins . (see: Vatz, Richard E .) </Li> <Li> Alloisis . The breaking down of a subject into its alternatives . </Li> <Li> Ambigua . An ambiguous statement used in making puns . </Li> <Li> Amplificatio . An all - purpose term for all the ways an argument can be expanded and enhanced . </Li> <Li> Amplification . The act and the means of extending thoughts or statements to increase rhetorical effect, to add importance, or to make the most of a thought or circumstance . </Li> <Li> Anacoenosis . A speaker asks his or her audience or opponents for their opinion or answer to the point in question . </Li> <Li> Anacoluthon . An abrupt change of syntax within a sentence . (What I want is--like anybody cares .) </Li> <Li> Anadiplosis . Repeating the last word of one clause or phrase to begin the next . </Li> <Li> Analogy . The use of a similar or parallel case or example to reason or argue a point . </Li> <Li> Anaphora . From the Greek ἀναφέρω, "I repeat". A succession of sentences beginning with the same word or group of words . </Li> <Li> Anastrophe . Inversion of the natural word order . </Li> <Li> Anecdote . A brief narrative describing an interesting or amusing event . </Li> <Li> Animorum motus . The emotions . </Li> <Li> Antanaclasis . From Greek ̩̩ἀντανάκλασις, a figure of speech involving a pun, consisting of the repeated use of the same word, each time with different meanings . </Li> <Li> Anthimeria . Substitution of one part of speech for another (such as a noun used as a verb). It is traditionally called antimeria . </Li> <Li> Anticlimax . A bathetic collapse from an elevated subject to a mundane or vulgar one . A specialized form of catacosmesis . </Li> <Li> Antimetabole . Repetition of two words or short phrases, but in reversed order to establish a contrast . It is a specialized form of chiasmus . </Li> <Li> Antinome (/ ˈæntənoʊm / AN - tə - nohm). Two ideas about the same topic that can be worked out to a logical conclusion, but the conclusions contradict each other . </Li> <Li> Antiptosis . The substitution of one case for another . </Li> <Li> Antistrophe . In rhetoric, repeating the last word in successive phrases . For example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "Since the time when from our state concord disappeared, liberty disappeared, good faith disappeared, friendship disappeared, the common weal disappeared ." Also see: epiphora . </Li> <Li> Antithesis . The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, or grammatical structures; the second stage of the dialectic process . </Li> <Li> Antonomasia . The substitution of an epithet for a proper name . </Li> <Li> Aphaeresis . The omission of a syllable from the beginning of a word . </Li> <Li> Apocope . The omission of the last letter or syllable of a word . </Li> <Li> Apokoinu construction . A blend of two clauses through a lexical word that has two syntactical functions, one in each of the blended clauses . </Li> <Li> Apophasis / Apophesis . Pretending to deny something as a means of implicitly affirming it . As paralipsis, mentioning something by saying that you will not mention it . The opposite of occupatio . </Li> <Li> Aporia . An attempt to discredit an opposing viewpoint by casting doubt on it . </Li> <Li> Aposiopesis . An abrupt stop in the middle of a sentence; used by a speaker to convey unwillingness or inability to complete a thought or statement . </Li> <Li> Apostrophe . From Greek ἀποστροφή, a figure of speech consisting of a sudden turn in a text towards an exclamatory address to an imaginary person or a thing . </Li> <Li> Appeals . Rhetorical devices used to enhance the plausibility of one's argument; Aristotle's appeals included ethos, logos, and pathos . </Li> <Li> Apposition . The placement of two words or phrases side by side with one element serving to define or modify the other . </Li> <Li> Arete . Virtue, excellence of character, qualities that would be inherent in a "natural leader", a component of ethos . </Li> <Li> Argument . Discourse characterized by reasons advanced to support conclusions . </Li> <Li> Argumentum ad baculum . Settling a question by appealing to force . </Li> <Li> Argumentum ad hominem . Using what you know about your opponent's character as a basis for your argument . </Li> <Li> Arrangement . See: dispositio . </Li> <Li> Ars arengandi . Teaching of forensic speaking during the Medieval rhetorical era . </Li> <Li> Ars dictaminis . The art of writing letters, introduced and taught during the Medieval rhetorical era . </Li> <Li> Ars poetria . Medieval teaching of grammar and style through analysis of poetry . </Li> <Li> Ars praedicandi . The art of preaching based on rhetorical ideas and introduced during the Medieval rhetorical era during an increasing intersection between rhetoric and religion . </Li> <Li> Artistic proofs . Rhetorically - produced methods for persuasion . For Aristotle, three possibilities would be ethos, pathos, and logos . </Li> <Li> Assonance . Words that repeat the same vowel sound . </Li> <Li> Asyndeton . The deliberate omission of conjunctions that would normally be used . </Li> <Li> Audience . Real, imagined, invoked, or ignored, this concept is at the very center of the intersections of composing and rhetoric . </Li> <Li> Aureation . The use of Latinate and polysyllabic terms to "heighten" diction . </Li> <Li> Auxesis . To place words or phrases in a certain order for climactic effect . </Li> <Li> Axioms . The point where scientific reasoning starts . Principles that are not questioned . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Absurdity . The exaggeration of a point beyond belief . </Li> <Li> Accumulatio . The emphasis or summary of previously made points or inferences by excessive praise or accusation . </Li>

In humorous writing a device that uses exaggeration for emphasis is called