Word.ws English Dictionary

aprosdoketon

/ˌæp.ɹəsˈdɑ.kɪˌtɑn/

aprosdoketon noun: a figure of speech where an expected word in an idiom is replaced unexpectedly by an unusual one, as in Rome wasn't built in a teacup.

Noun

aprosdoketon (plural aprosdoketons or aprosdoketa)

  1. A figure of speech where an expected word in an idiom is replaced unexpectedly by an unusual one, as in Rome wasn't built in a teacup.
    • Is the poet saying "I do not chance on even a slight respect from you" or "I chance on a good amount of respect from you," a meaning which effectively postpones the aprosdoketon to the final line[?]1997, T. Tarkow, Theognis 237–254: A Reexamination, in Quaderni urbinati di cultura classica 26, quoted in Roman Constructions (Don Fowler, 2000)...
  2. (broadly) Any surprising use or interpretation of language.
    • In later restagings of the Thesmophoriazusae, as in the 1959 Frogs, Euripides made his appearance driving a motorcycle. This scenic aprosdoketon was, of course, an ingenious verbal and visual pun on the word mechane and its different meanings in ancient and modern Greek: "stage crane" and...2000, Gonda A. H. Van Steen, Venom in Verse

Forms of aprosdoketon

pluralaprosdoketons
pluralaprosdoketa
alternative formaprosdoceton

Origin of aprosdoketon

From Ancient Greek ἀπροσδόκητος (aprosdókētos, “unexpected”).

Questions about aprosdoketon

What does aprosdoketon mean?
Aprosdoketon means a figure of speech where an expected word in an idiom is replaced unexpectedly by an unusual one, as in Rome wasn't built in a teacup.
What part of speech is aprosdoketon?
Aprosdoketon is a noun.
How do you pronounce aprosdoketon?
Aprosdoketon is pronounced /ˌæp.ɹəsˈdɑ.kɪˌtɑn/ (US).
What is the plural of aprosdoketon?
The plural of aprosdoketon is aprosdoketons.

Words near aprosdoketon in the dictionary

  1. apropos
  2. apropos of
  3. apropos of nothing
  4. aproptin
  5. aprosdoketa
  6. aprosdoketon
  7. aprosdoketons
  8. aprosexia
  9. aprosexual
  10. aprosodia
  11. aprosodic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: aprosdoketon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-aprosdoketon-greek.ogg.

Cite this entry: “aprosdoketon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aprosdoketon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.