| paralipsis | 
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| par-a-lip'-sis | from Gk. para, "side" and
leipein, "to leave" ("to leave to one side") Also sp. paraleipsis, paralepsis antiphrasis, parasiopesis occultatio, occupatio, praeteritio, preteritio, praetermissio the passager, preterition |
Stating and drawing attention to something in the very act
of pretending to pass it over. A kind of irony.
Example
It would be unseemly for me to dwell on Senator Kennedy's drinking problem, and too many have already sensationalized his womanizing...
Melville's narrator of Moby Dick, Ishmael, manages to characterize Queequeg in the very act of stating he will pass over such details:
We will not speak of all Queequeg's peculiarities here; how he eschewed coffee and hot rolls, and applied his undivided attention to beefsteaks, done rare. —Moby Dick "Breakfast"
Related Figures
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