antanametabole

Etymology

(RhetFig neologism, a blend of antanaclasis and antimetabole) Gk. anti “against, back” + ana “up” + metabole “turning about.”

Synonyms, partial synonyms, and alternate spellings

None

Definition

A 'repetition' of two or more homonyms in reverse order. Antanametaboles resemble ANTIMETABOLES but the same words are not repeated and reversed; rather, at least one of the 'repeated' and reversed words is a homonym or is a polyseme and the two instances are of different senses, or the two instances are in different lexical categories.

I can’t stop them from destroying me without destroying them, but I can’t destroy them without destroying myself. (St. Aubyn, 2015: 544)

St. Aubyn, Edward. (2015 [2012]). The Patrick Melrose Novels. Picador.

antanametabole
epanaphora
ploce
    ploce 1
    ploce 2
    ploce 3
    ploce 4
polyptoton