adynaton

== English == === Etymology === Borrowed from Late Latin adynaton (“impossibility; adynaton”), or directly from its etymon Ancient Greek ἀδύνατον (adúnaton, “an impossibility; impracticality”), substantivized neuter singular of ἀδύνατος (adúnatos, “unable; that cannot be done, impossible”) + -ον (-on, suffix forming nouns). The word ἀδύνατος is derived from ἀ- (a-, the alpha privative, a prefix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached) + δῠνᾰτός (dŭnătós, “mighty, strong; possible, practical”) (from δῠ́νᾰμαι (dŭ́nămai, “to be able, capable; it can be, it is possible”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to fit”)) + -τος (-tos, suffix forming verbal adjectives of possibility)). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ædɪˈnɑːtɒn/, /-t(ə)n/ (General American) IPA(key): /ædəˈnɑtn̩/ Hyphenation: ady‧na‧ton === Noun === adynaton (countable and uncountable, plural adynata or adynatons) (rhetoric) A form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibility; an instance of such hyperbole. ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== aporia aposiopesis === References === === Further reading === adynaton on Wikipedia.Wikipedia “adynaton”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. A. W. Halsall; T. V. F. Brogan (2012), “ADYNATON”, in Roland Greene, editor, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry & Poetics, 4th edition, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 9