Antimetabole

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌæn.tɪ.məˈtæ.bə.li/

Definitions

1. a rhetorical device in which the second part of a sentence reverses the structure or words of the first part to create a mirror effect
2. a figure of speech where grammatical elements or key terms are inverted in successive clauses to produce a symmetrical, mirrored pattern
3. a stylistic technique that repeats words or syntactic structures in reverse order within consecutive phrases to achieve balance and emphasis

Etymology: The Greek word "antimetabolē" was a rhetorical term for repeating words in reverse order, and its parts are plain enough: "anti-" meaning "against" or "opposite," and "metabolē," meaning "change" or "transformation," from "metaballein," to throw over or change. Put together, the sense is something like "a turning around in the opposite direction." English took the word over from Greek as a technical term in rhetoric, so it describes a figure of speech rather than an everyday act. Its classic example is a line like "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country," where the phrases swap places across the sentence. The Greek original was used in the same sense, and the English word kept its precise meaning from rhetoric teaching.