Meanings
plural anastrophes
- countablerhetoricuncountableUnusual word order, often involving an inversion of the usual pattern of the sentence.
Anastrophe often, by a pleasing change, Gracefuly puts last the words that first should range.
1835, L[arret] Langley, “[Rhetorical Figures.] Anastrophe.”, in A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster, South Yorkshire: […] C. White, […], →OCLC, page 431 more example
[…] thus the foreign-born baby was denounced and welcomed, the circumstances lamented and the mother congratulated, in a breath, all under cover of the happiest misunderstanding, as effective as the cabalism of Prospero's wand among the Neapolitan mariners, by the skilful Irish development on a grand scale of the rhetorical figure anastrophe, or a turning about and about.
1910, George Meredith, chapter XII, in Celt and SaxonSynonyms: hyperbaton, inversion
Synonyms & antonyms
nounUnusual word order, often involving an inversion of the usual pattern of the sentence.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekἀναστροφή
- Englishanastrophe
Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀναστροφή (anastrophḗ), from ἀνα- (ana-, “up”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan anàstrofe
- anàstrofeswitching in the syntactical order of words
Chinese Mandarin 倒裝 /倒装, 倒裝句 /倒装句
- 倒裝 /倒装 (dàozhuāng)switching in the syntactical order of words
- 倒裝句 /倒装句 (dàozhuāngjù)switching in the syntactical order of words
French anastrophe
- anastropheswitching in the syntactical order of words
German Anastrophe, Inversion
- Anastropheswitching in the syntactical order of words
- Inversionswitching in the syntactical order of words
Greek αναστροφή
- αναστροφή (anastrofí)switching in the syntactical order of words
Irish anastróf
- anastrófswitching in the syntactical order of words
Italian anastrofe
- anastrofeswitching in the syntactical order of words
Japanese 倒置, 倒置法
- 倒置 (tōchi)switching in the syntactical order of words
- 倒置法 (tōchihō)switching in the syntactical order of words
Polish inwersja, metateza
- inwersjaswitching in the syntactical order of words
- metatezaswitching in the syntactical order of words
- przekładniaswitching in the syntactical order of words
- przestawniaswitching in the syntactical order of words
- szyk przestawnyswitching in the syntactical order of words
Portuguese anástrofe
- anástrofeswitching in the syntactical order of words
Russian анастро́фа
- анастро́фа (anastrófa)switching in the syntactical order of words
Spanish anástrofe
- anástrofeswitching in the syntactical order of words
Tagalog kabaligtaran
- kabaligtaranswitching in the syntactical order of words
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with anastrophe
All rhymes →Cite this entry
anastrophe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anastrophe
“anastrophe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anastrophe. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “anastrophe,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anastrophe.
Source: anastrophe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.