Stylistic Figures
Biblical figures of speech following E.W. Bullinger’s Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (1898). Bullinger counts 217 figures in three main groups: figures of omission, of addition, and of change.
Published entries
Wave A — Figures Involving Omission
I. Affecting Words
- Ellipsis — omission (parent with 3 sub-entries)
- Absolute — absolute omission
- Relative — relative omission
- Repetition — repetition-omission
- Aphaeresis — front-cut
- Apocope — end-cut
- Asyndeton — no-ands
- Zeugma — unequal yoke
II. Affecting the Sense
- Aposiopesis — sudden-silence
- Meiosis — a be-littleing (litotes)
- Tapeinosis — demeaning
- Syllogismus — omission of the conclusion
- Enthymema — omission of the premiss
(Wave A fully completed on 2026-04-27: 10 primary figures + 3 Ellipsis sub-entries = 13 entries published.)
Wave B — Figures Involving Addition
I. Affecting Words
- Anaphora — same-beginning repetition (p. 199)
- Polysyndeton — many-ands
II. Affecting the Sense
- Hyperbole — exaggeration
- Anabasis — gradual ascent
- Catabasis — gradual descent
- Pleonasm — redundancy
- Parenthesis — parenthetic addition
(Wave B batch 1 — Hyperbole + Polysyndeton — published 2026-04-27. Wave B batch 2 — Anabasis + Catabasis pair — published 2026-04-27. Wave B batch 3 — Pleonasm + Parenthesis — published 2026-04-27. Option 2 cross-ref priority closed.)
III. Affecting Meaning (Repetition)
- Epizeuxis — immediate repetition for emphasis
- Paronomasia — wordplay on sound similarity
- Polyptoton — repeated word-form (p. 267)
Wave C — Figures Involving Change
I. Affecting Meaning
- Antithesis — contrast
- Hendiadys — one idea expressed by two words
- Metonymy — change of noun
II. Involving Representation
- Allegory — extended comparison / double meaning
- Metaphor — figurative representation
- Simile — comparison (likeness)
III. Involving Persons or Things
- Anthropopatheia — human feelings attributed to God
- Prosopopoeia — personification
(Wave B Epizeuxis + Paronomasia and all Wave C figures published 2026-04-30. Wave B Polyptoton + Anaphora published 2026-05-01.)