antiptosis
|an-tip-to-sis|
🇺🇸
/ˌæn.tɪpˈtoʊ.sɪs/
🇬🇧
/ˌæn.tɪpˈtəʊ.sɪs/
case substitution
Etymology
'antiptosis' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'ἀντίπτωσις', where 'ἀντί-' meant 'against' and 'πτῶσις' meant 'a falling (or fall)'.
'antiptosis' changed from the Medieval/Latin form 'antíptōsis' (borrowed from Greek) and was adopted into scholarly English usage as 'antiptosis'.
Initially, it meant 'a falling against' in a literal Greek sense, but over time it evolved into a technical rhetorical meaning: 'the substitution or transposition of grammatical cases'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a rhetorical or grammatical figure in which one grammatical case is substituted for another (the use of a word in a different case than expected).
In classical Latin poetry, antiptosis sometimes appears when a genitive is used in place of an expected accusative.
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Noun 2
(rare/extended) A stylistic device of placing a word in an unexpected grammatical relation for emphasis or effect.
The author's deliberate antiptosis created a striking, unusual rhythm in the sentence.
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Last updated: 2025/09/08 03:04