chiasmus

[ kahy-az-muhs ]

noun

, Rhetoric.

, plural chi·as·mi [kahy-, az, -mahy].

1. a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, as in “He went to the country, to the town went she.”

chiasmus

/ kaɪˈæzməs; kaɪˈæstɪk /

noun

1. rhetoric reversal of the order of words in the second of two parallel phrases

   he came in triumph and in defeat departs

Derived Forms

• chiastic, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of chiasmus¹

1870–75; < Greek chiasmós, equivalent to chi chi ¹ + -asmos masculine noun suffix, akin to -asma; chiasma

Word History and Origins

Origin of chiasmus¹

C19: from New Latin, from Greek khiasmos crisscross arrangement; see chiasma

Example Sentences

Phil’s so smart, there’s no doubt he knows the definition of chiasmus.

From Golf Digest

You should imagine yourself walking through the verse, he said, stopping at the chiasmus, the middle line: He knows that which is in front of them and that which is behind them.

From Literature

And, in an embrace of the structure and practice of thought called chiasmus, of which Pascal in his “Pensées” was master, the terms may be reversed.

From The New Yorker

Beneath this dystopian chiasmus, is brutal and often hilarious satire and nightmare visions of death on the 405.

From Salon

This is the kind of thing that would get a tick from a kind schoolteacher for its use of chiasmus, but does risk falling prey to what psychologists term “left-hand truncation”.

From The Guardian