What does anadiplosis mean?
Anadiplosis is a figure of speech in which the last word or phrase of one clause or sentence is repeated at the beginning of the next, creating a linked, chain-like effect. For example, in the sentence 'She left the city, the city she had loved,' the word 'city' bridges the two halves. Derived from Greek roots meaning 'doubling again', the term has belonged to rhetoric since antiquity, when writers such as Aristotle catalogued it among the devices that give prose force and memorability. Anadiplosis lends language a sense of momentum and inevitability, which is why it appears often in oratory, poetry, scripture, and even film dialogue — Yoda's 'Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering' is a celebrated modern instance. The word itself is a formal term of literary analysis rather than everyday vocabulary, but knowing it equips readers to name and appreciate one of the oldest techniques for making language resonate.
nounA rhetorical device in which the last word or phrase of one sentence or clause is repeated at the beginning of the next, creating a chain-link effect.
- The repetition of the final word or words of one clause or sentence at the beginning of the next, forming a chain.
""When I give, I give myself" — the writer's fondness for anadiplosis gives her prose a rolling, incantatory rhythm."
"In the sermon's most famous passage — 'the love of money is the root of all evil, evil that corrupts the soul' — anadiplosis links one idea to the next."
"Yoda's warning that fear leads to anger, and anger to hatred, is a textbook example of anadiplosis."
Standard English plural, following the Greek-style -es ending used for other rhetorical terms such as 'hypotheses'. Rarely needed outside academic contexts.
"The essay catalogued the anadiploses scattered through Milton's verse."
Shakespeare's 'My conscience hath a thousand several tongues' and Yoda's 'Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering' — both are anadiplosis, a 2,000-year-old trick for making words echo like footsteps.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of anadiplosis
Anadiplosis comes from the Greek anadiplōsis, formed from ana- ('again, back') and diplōsis ('a doubling'), itself from diploos ('double'). Greek rhetoricians used the term in antiquity, and it entered English through Latin learning in the sixteenth century as classical rhetoric was systematised in Renaissance education. It shares its Greek root with words such as 'diploma' and 'diploid', all built on the idea of doubling.
How anadiplosis is actually used
Anadiplosis is a technical term of rhetoric and literary criticism, used almost exclusively in formal academic writing, classroom discussion, and stylistic analysis. It is not used in everyday conversation. The plural is 'anadiploses'.
Easily confused with anadiplosis
Diacope repeats a word or phrase with only a few intervening words (e.g. 'Bond. James Bond'), whereas anadiplosis repeats the final word of one clause as the first word of the next.
Anaphora repeats the same word at the beginning of successive clauses from the start, while anadiplosis chains clauses together by repeating each clause's ending word at the start of the next.