amphiboly
\am-FIB-uh-lee\
noun
1. ambiguity of speech, especially from uncertainty of the grammatical construction rather than of the meaning of the words, as in The Duke yet lives that Henry shall depose.
Quotes
Maybe it was better to evade the issue, to delay, to be ambiguous and equivocal, indulge in vagueness, anacoluthon, and amphiboly?
-- Mallock, The Cemetery of Swallows, translated by Steven Rendall, 2013
Origin of amphiboly
Amphiboly comes from the Latin noun amphibolia meaning "ambiguity," which, in turn, stems from the Greek verb bállein meaning "to throw." It entered English in the late 1500s.
1 comment:
Cool! :-)
Post a Comment