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- Arranging words or clauses in a sequence of increasing force. In
this sense, auxesis is comparable to climax
and has sometimes been called incrementum.
- A figure of speech in which something is referred to in terms disproportionately
large (a kind of exaggeration or hyperbole).
- Amplification
in general.
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This figure
(in its second meaning) is often paired with its opposite, meiosis. |
| Examples
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Said
of a scratch:
Look at this wound! |
| Related
Figures |
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- Figures of Definition
In its second definition, auxesis functions as a kind of redefinition,
associating it generally with the topic of invention Definition.
- hyperbole
- meiosis
The opposite of auxesis (2)—referring to something with a name
disproportionately lesser than its nature.
- Figures of Amplification
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Sources: |
Quintilian 8.4.3
("incrementum"); Melanch. ER D4r; Peacham (1577) N4r (#2); Putt. (1589)
226 (#1—"auxesis," "the avancer"); Day 1599 91 (#1—"auxesis,"
"incrementum") |
