cataplexis

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κατάπληξις (katáplēxis, “amazement, consternation”), from καταπλήσσω (kataplḗssō, “to amaze, astound”).

Noun

cataplexis (uncountable)

  1. (rhetoric) A rhetorical device in which a threat of retribution (especially of divine punishment) is made in response to wrongdoing.
    Synonym: commination
    • 2016, E. Decamp, Civic and Medical Worlds in Early Modern England: Performing Barbery and Surgery, page 41:
      In III.v's [sc. Ben Jonson's Epicoene] final sixty lines, Morose and Truewit wish calamity on Cutbeard: 'May he get the itch, and his shop so lousy as no man dare come at him' (III.v.70-71). They focus half of their cataplexis on Cutbeard's body, which they hope will develop blotches and gout, and the other half on the objects of his trade.
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