cataphasis

Figure Name cataphasis
Source Silva Rhetoricae (http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Silva.htm); Bullinger (1898) ("cataphasis; or, affirmation")
Earliest Source None
Synonyms affirmation
Etymology cat-aph'-a-sis, Gr. "an affirmation" or "affirmative proposition" from kata "down" and phasis "a speaking" from phanai "to say"
Type Chroma
Linguistic Domain Semantic
Definition

1. A kind of paralipsis in which one explicitly affirms the negative qualities that one then passes over. (Silva Rhetoricae)

2. Addition of Insinuation (stated) by way of Reasoning... In this case the insinuation is added, not negatively, but positively: e.g., "I pass by his deceit," etc., and thus the insinuation as to his deception. (Bullinger, 494)

Example

1. I will say nothing here of his fraudulent practices. (Silva Rhetoricae)

Kind Of Omission
Addition
Opposition
Part Of
Related Figures irony, paralipsis
Notes
Confidence Unconfident
Last Editor Ioanna Malton
Confidence Unconfident
Editorial Notes fixed synonyms, related figures
Reviewed No