Anakoluthon

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A sentence that abandons its original grammatical construction partway through, leaving it syntactically incomplete or shifted in form
2. A rhetorical break in which a sentence changes structure midway, so that its opening and closing parts do not fit together grammatically
3. An irregular sentence whose syntax shifts abruptly before it finishes, producing a grammatical discontinuity within a single utterance

Etymology: Anakoluthon is a Greek term that literally means "not following," built from "a-" (not) and "akolouthos" (following, attendant). In rhetoric it names a sentence that breaks its own grammatical pattern partway through, so the second half no longer fits the start. The classic example is a speaker who begins one construction and abandons it for another, leaving the listener to sort out the mismatch. The word was used by ancient Greek grammarians and rhetoricians to describe this deliberate or accidental lapse in syntax. Its sense rests on the idea of a sentence that fails to "follow" its own opening, with the grammar left dangling. English adopted the term as a technical rhetorical label, and it has stayed within scholarly and literary vocabulary. Writers have used anakoluthon for effect, especially to suggest spontaneous speech or a mind racing ahead of its grammar. The term is sometimes used loosely for any broken or unfinished sentence, though its precise meaning concerns a shift in construction rather than simple incompleteness.

Synonyms: anacoluthon