chiasmus

chi·as·mus  (k-zms)

n. pl. chi·as·mi (-m)

A rhetorical inversion of the second of two parallel structures, as in "Each throat/Was parched, and glazed each eye" (Samuel Taylor Coleridge).

---

[New Latin chasmus, from Greek khasmos, syntactic inversion, from khazein, to invert or mark with an X; see chiasma.]

---

chiasmus [kaɪˈæzməs]

n pl -mi [-maɪ]

(Literature / Rhetoric) Rhetoric reversal of the order of words in the second of two parallel phrases he came in triumph and in defeat departs

[from New Latin, from Greek khiasmos crisscross arrangement; see chiasma]

chiastic  [kaɪˈæstɪk] adj

---

chiasmus

a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, as “flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike” (Coleridge). — chiastic, adj.

See also: Rhetoric and Rhetorical Devices

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

chiasmus - inversion in the second of two parallel phrases rhetorical device - a use of language that creates a literary effect (but often without regard for literal significance)