conceptismo · noun — A 16th- and 17th-century literary movement in Spain associated with Francisco de Quevedo and characterized by a rapid rhythm, directness, wordplay, and witty metaphors.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Why “conceptismo” is a great word
A 16th- and 17th-century Spanish Baroque literary style characterized by intellectual wit, concise and ingenious metaphors (conceits), and a rapid, direct rhythm. Borrowed from Spanish conceptismo, from concepto ("concept, conceit, ingenious expression"), from Late Latin conceptus ("thought"). Unlike culteranismo, which luxuriates in Latinate ornament and sensuous, labyrinthine imagery, or concretismo, which fixes words as visual objects in space, conceptismo is a swift, cerebral duel fought within the abstract architecture of language itself. It is the flash of a perfectly honed paradox, the sudden collision of distant ideas sparking a new flame of understanding, the intellectual thrill of a mind solving its own elegant puzzle—a brief, brilliant proof that thought, at its most dense and compressed, can approach the condition of light.
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Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish conceptismo.
noun
- A 16th- and 17th-century literary movement in Spain associated with Francisco de Quevedo and characterized by a rapid rhythm, directness, wordplay, and witty metaphors.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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