Hypostrophes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Distinctive rhetorical devices involving the omission and repositioning of letters or sounds within words to enhance expression and emphasis; the process or product of such alterations for stylistic effect; instances where parts of words are left out or rearranged to create a particular phonetic or rhythmic impact
2. Techniques in language that consist of deliberately leaving out or inverting elements of words to achieve a specific artistic or rhetorical purpose; actions or examples of modifying standard word forms by contraction or displacement; examples where segments of words are elided or displaced to convey emphasis or stylistic nuance
3. Methods of altering words by removing or shifting letters or sounds to produce a desired effect in speech or writing; the act or outcome of such linguistic manipulations to enrich rhetorical expression; particular cases of word element omission or repositioning used as expressive devices

Etymology: "Hypostrophes" is the plural of "hypostrophe," a term from Ancient Greek ὑποστροφή (hupostrophḗ), built on the verb ὑποστρέφω (hupostréphō), meaning "to turn round or back." The prefix hupo- means "under" or "beneath," and strephein means "to turn," so the word's sense of turning something back or aside carries over into its later technical use. In rhetoric and grammar, the plural names the various ways a word or syllable can be shifted from its usual form, whether by cutting segments short or by moving them out of their expected place. The Greek root's idea of turning reappears in the way these devices bend ordinary word shapes away from their standard order.

Synonyms: apostrophes, elisions