Word.ws English Dictionary

rhesis

rhesis noun: a passage of text in a play.

Noun

rhesis (plural rheses)

  1. (Ancient Greece) A passage of text in a play.
    • Such speeches (like the rheses) have the distinction of length, often exceeding one hundred lines; they give the impression that for a time dramatic effect is suspended, and, as a substitute, the recognised features of Epic Poetry supply a new interest.1890, Richard Green Moulton, The Ancient Classical Drama: A Study in Literary Evolution, page 145
    • The chorus or chorus-coryphaeus is followed by a rhesis of the actor, followed in its turn by a stichic dialogue A/actor which usually culminates in a stichomythia.1975, Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, Festival, Comedy and Tragedy: The Greek Origins of Theatre, page 147

Forms of rhesis

pluralrheses

Origin of rhesis

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥῆσῐς (rhêsĭs).

Questions about rhesis

What does rhesis mean?
Rhesis means a passage of text in a play.
What part of speech is rhesis?
Rhesis is a noun.
What is the plural of rhesis?
The plural of rhesis is rheses.

Words near rhesis in the dictionary

  1. rheotropisms
  2. rheotypic
  3. rheovirus
  4. rhEPO
  5. rheses
  6. rhesis
  7. rhesus
  8. Rhesus factor
  9. Rhesus factors
  10. rhesus macaque
  11. rhesus macaques

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rhesis (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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