epiploce
Etymology
From Latin epiplocē (“(rhetoric) connection”), from Ancient Greek ἐπιπλοκή (epiplokḗ, “plaiting together”), from ἐπιπλέκω (epiplékō, “to interweave”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “upon”) (see epi-) + πλέκω (plékō, “to plait”).
epiploce means A figure of speech by which one striking circumstance is added, in due gradation, to another; escalation to a climax. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
EPIPLOCE — [Noun] A figure of speech where striking circumstances are added successively to build to a climax. From Latin epiplocē ("connection"), from Ancient Greek ἐπιπλοκή (epiplokḗ, "plaiting together"), from ἐπι- (epi-, "upon") + πλέκω (plékō, "to plait"). Unlike "anaclasis" (which twists syntax for effect) or "gradatio" (which ascends in measured steps), epiploce is the art of cumulative tension—each thread pulled tighter until the fabric snaps. It is the prosecutor listing the defendant’s crimes, each more damning than the last; the lover recounting every betrayal, voice trembling with the weight of the final blow; the storm gathering clouds, then wind, then thunder, until the sky can hold no more. A braid of tension, tightening.
noun
- A figure of speech by which one striking circumstance is added, in due gradation, to another; escalation to a climax.“In dress making Ram Rutton certainly excelled; but, from a curious idiosyncracy or obtuseness of intellect, he could not be made to comprehend "the unities," nor how an epiploce could be so graduated as to superinduce tears artificial; yet would he weep like an infant when mulcted for unauthorised absence from his professional labours.”
- Synonym of anaclasis.“This example turns out to be an instance of the misarrangement of the verses rather than of epiploce: and the same may be said of every case in which a syllable must be transferred from the end of one verse to the beginning of another. But there are many reasons to conclude that the Ancients did not divide words between verses as the Moderns do, and that it was this which gave rise to the epiploce”