Word.ws English Dictionary

epiplexis

epiplexis noun: a rhetorical device where a sequence of rhetorical questions is used to criticise or blame, or more generally, to elicit an emotional response.

Noun

epiplexis (plural epiplexes)

  1. (rhetoric) A rhetorical device where a sequence of rhetorical questions is used to criticise or blame, or more generally, to elicit an emotional response.
    • Afterwards, questioners employ the rhetorical figure called epiplexis. This interrogative figure is designed to blame the addressee, posing trick questions whose goal is to reveal whatever the speaker considers to be his or her faults. Epiplexis is backed up by cataplexis.2013, Jean Godefroy Bidima, “La Palabre: The Legal Authority of Speech”, in Law and the Public Sphere in Africa: La Palabre and Other Writings, page 24
    • Remember also to structure epiplexes with one of the patterns for figures with multiple elements we met in chapter three. Repeated rhetorical questions can move from general to specific, from short to long, from broad to narrow, but should always unpack like Russian dolls.2018, Danyal Freeman, Seductive Academic Writing, page 83

Forms of epiplexis

pluralepiplexes

Origin of epiplexis

From Latin epiplexis (“rebuke”), from Ancient Greek ἐπίπληξις (epíplēxis, “rebuke”), from ἐπιπλήσσω (epiplḗssō, “to chastise”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “upon”) (see epi-) + πλήσσω (plḗssō, “to strike”).

Questions about epiplexis

What does epiplexis mean?
Epiplexis means a rhetorical device where a sequence of rhetorical questions is used to criticise or blame, or more generally, to elicit an emotional response.
What part of speech is epiplexis?
Epiplexis is a noun.
What is the plural of epiplexis?
The plural of epiplexis is epiplexes.

Words near epiplexis in the dictionary

  1. epiplectic
  2. epipleural
  3. epipleurals
  4. epipleuron
  5. epiplexes
  6. epiplexis
  7. epiploa
  8. epiploce
  9. epiplocele
  10. epiploceles
  11. epiploic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: epiplexis (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.

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