What does apophasis mean?
Apophasis is a rhetorical device in which a speaker draws attention to something precisely by appearing to deny, omit, or refuse to mention it. The classic move is the statement 'I won't even discuss my opponent's scandals' — the scandals are thereby placed squarely before the audience while the speaker preserves a veneer of restraint. Known to classical rhetoricians and long a staple of political speech, apology, and invective, apophasis is prized for its plausible deniability: the speaker technically never said the forbidden thing, yet everyone heard it. The word derives from the Greek apophanai, meaning 'to speak away' or 'to declare off', and entered English usage through the tradition of rhetorical scholarship. It is a formal term, rarely encountered in everyday conversation, but it names a tactic so common in public life that recognising it is genuinely useful. Related figures include paralipsis and innuendo; its near-namesake apophenia, the perception of patterns in randomness, is entirely unrelated in meaning.
nounA rhetorical device in which something is deliberately mentioned by appearing to deny or avoid saying it, as in 'I won't mention his dishonesty.' More broadly, an indirect way of referring to something by seeming to pass over it.
- As a rhetorical figure: the act of implying or drawing attention to something by claiming to deny, omit, or avoid mentioning it.
- More broadly: any indirect reference to a thing by way of negation or apparent dismissal.
"With classic apophasis, the senator insisted she would not dwell on her opponent's financial scandals."
"'I will not dignify that rumour with a response,' she said — a textbook case of apophasis."
"In his farewell speech he practised apophasis, listing all the faults he promised not to bring up."
The plural follows the Latinized Greek ending, changing '-is' to '-es', like 'thesis' → 'theses'. It is rare outside academic writing on rhetoric.
"The lecture surveyed several varieties of apophases found in Elizabethan drama."
The sneakiest trick in rhetoric: politicians 'refuse' to talk about their rival's scandals so loudly that everyone hears about them.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of apophasis
Apophasis comes from the ancient Greek verb apophanai ('to speak off' or 'to deny'), formed from apo- ('away from') plus phanai ('to speak'), itself rooted in the Indo-European base *bha- that also yields words such as fable, fate, ban, and prophet. The term was adopted into Latin rhetorical theory and passed into English through the classical rhetorical tradition, becoming established as a technical label for the figure of mentioning by not mentioning, probably by the early modern period of English rhetorical writing.
Related word forms
How apophasis is actually used
A formal, literary term drawn from classical rhetoric; rare in casual conversation but familiar to students of rhetoric, politics, and literature. It carries a connotation of slyness or calculated indirection, since the speaker achieves emphasis while maintaining plausible deniability. The plural is 'apophases'.
Easily confused with apophasis
Apophenia is the psychological tendency to perceive meaningful patterns in random data, whereas apophasis is a rhetorical technique of mentioning something by pretending to omit it.
Paralipsis is essentially a synonym or close variant of apophasis — both describe emphasizing something by feigning to ignore it — but paralipsis is sometimes treated as a distinct named figure in rhetoric.