paralipsis
/ˌpæ.ɹəˈlɪp.sɪs/
paralipsis noun: a figure of speech in which one pretends to ignore or omit something by actually mentioning it.
Noun
paralipsis (countable and uncountable, plural paraleipses)
- A figure of speech in which one pretends to ignore or omit something by actually mentioning it.
- These negatives are a paraleipsis: what cannot be done to the soul can be done to the body.1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae
- Oxenberg tells us twice that she does not talk about the sister who died. She fools no one with this paralipsis […].2008, Alisa Lebow, First Person Jewish, page 60
- Synonyms:
- apophasis, preterition
Synonyms of paralipsis
Forms of paralipsis
| plural | paraleipses |
|---|---|
| alternative form | paralepsis |
| alternative form | paraleipsis |
Origin of paralipsis
From Ancient Greek παράλειψις (paráleipsis, “omission”), from παραλείπω (paraleípō, “I pass over”), from παρά (pará, “by, near”) + λείπω (leípō, “I leave”).
Words formed from paralipsis
Questions about paralipsis
- What does paralipsis mean?
- Paralipsis means a figure of speech in which one pretends to ignore or omit something by actually mentioning it.
- What part of speech is paralipsis?
- Paralipsis is a noun.
- How do you pronounce paralipsis?
- Paralipsis is pronounced /ˌpæ.ɹəˈlɪp.sɪs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of paralipsis?
- The plural of paralipsis is paraleipses.
Words near paralipsis in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: paralipsis (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-paralipsis.wav.
Cite this entry: “paralipsis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/paralipsis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.