paraprosdokian
/ˌpæɹəˌpɹoʊsˈdoʊkiən/
paraprosdokian noun: a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part.
Noun
paraprosdokian (plural paraprosdokians)
- A figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part.
- This style of comic poetry, a kind of parody of the Ballad, a series of quatrains generally leading up to a paraprosdokian or surprise in the fourth line, was initiated by [Oliver] Goldsmith in this merry tale.1906, J. C. Stobart, The Johnson Epoch (Epochs of English literature), volume VII, London: E. Arnold, page 144
Forms of paraprosdokian
| plural | paraprosdokians |
|---|
Origin of paraprosdokian
From Ancient Greek παρά (pará, “against”) + προσδοκία (prosdokía, “expectation”).
Questions about paraprosdokian
- What does paraprosdokian mean?
- Paraprosdokian means a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part.
- What part of speech is paraprosdokian?
- Paraprosdokian is a noun.
- How do you pronounce paraprosdokian?
- Paraprosdokian is pronounced /ˌpæɹəˌpɹoʊsˈdoʊkiən/.
- What is the plural of paraprosdokian?
- The plural of paraprosdokian is paraprosdokians.
Words near paraprosdokian in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: paraprosdokian (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-paraprosdokian.wav.
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