Meanings
plural auxeses
- A rhetorical device whereby the subject matter is made greater, particularly
- countablerhetoricuncountableOverstatement, hyperbole.
Avxesis, when we vse a greater word for a lesse, or thus, when the word is greater then the thing is in deede.
1577, Henry Peacham, Garden of EloquenceAntonyms: meiosis
- countableuncountablebiologyBiological growth, (now usually restricted to) expansion or growth of an organism apart from that due to cellular division.
Auxesis, augmentation, increase.
1842, R. Dunglison, Medical Lexicon1 more example
Botanists do still distinguish between auxesis or growth by expansion, and merisis or growth by cell-multiplication.
1940 November 9, Nature, 618/1 - countableuncountablechemistryThe condition of being auxetic
Synonyms & antonyms
nounOverstatement, hyperbole.
nounArrangement of a series in ascending order.
rhetorical increase
rhetorical increase; good
See understatement
antonym(s) of “ascending series”
antonym(s) of “biological growth not involving cell division”
Origin
- Ancient Greekαὔξησις“growth”
- Englishauxesis
From Ancient Greek αὔξησις (aúxēsis, “growth”), from αὐξάνω (auxánō, “to grow”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
auxesis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auxesis
“auxesis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auxesis. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “auxesis,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auxesis.
Source: auxesis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.