hyperbaton

An inversion of the usual or logical order of words or phrases, for emphasis or poetic effect.

Noun

  1. An inversion of the usual or logical order of words or phrases, for emphasis or poetic effect.
    • In real life we often see a man under the influence of rage, or fear, […] begin a sentence, and then swerve aside into some inconsequent parenthesis, and then again double back to his original statement […]Now the...

    Synonyms: anastrophe inversion

  2. Adding a word or thought to a sentence that is already semantically complete, thus drawing emphasis to the addition.

Origin

Borrowed from Latin hyperbaton, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ὑπερβατόν (huperbatón, “overstepping”), from ὑπερβαίνω (huperbaínō), from ὑπέρ (hupér) + βαίνω (baínō, “walk”).

Forms

hyperbatons hyperbata

Related

Yodaspeak

Derived

hyperbatic