Anacoenosis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A rhetorical figure that engages listeners by inviting their opinions or responses promotes interaction and fosters a collaborative dialogue between the speaker and audience
2. A rhetorical technique where a speaker solicits the audience's views to encourage participation and create a connection
3. A figure of speech that involves asking the listeners for their thoughts as a way to engage them in dialogue

Etymology: The Greek "anakoinōsis" is built from "ana-", meaning "up" or "again," and "koinoun," meaning "to share" or "to communicate," which itself comes from "koinos," "common." Its sense was roughly "a communicating" or "a consulting together," the act of making something common property through conversation. Rhetoricians applied it to a device in which a speaker turns to the audience and asks what they think, or even what they would do in the speaker's place. The figure was named in Greek rhetorical theory, and the English term follows the Greek form closely. The word's core idea is still visible in its modern gloss: the speaker stops delivering a monologue and invites the listeners to take part in the reasoning.