Auxesis (figure of speech)

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Auxesis (Greek: αὔξησις, aúxēsis) is the Greek word for "growth" or "increase". In rhetoric, it refers to varying forms of increase:

• hyperbole (overstatement): intentionally overstating a point, its importance, or its significance^[1][2][3]
• climax (ascending series): a series of clauses of increasing force^[4]
• amplificatio (rhetorical increase): extension or exaggerated, needless repetition of arguments to emphasize the point

In Ancient Greece, it was also sometimes known as auxanein ("growing").

See also

• figure of speech
• meiosis and litotes, the opposite of auxesis in its hyperbolic sense
• anticlimax, the opposite of auxesis in its climactic sense

References