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"epexegesis"

By Richard Nordquist, About.com

Definition:

Adding words or phrases to further clarify or specify a statement already made.

Etymology:

From the Greek, "explanation"

Examples and Observations:

  • "It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of--and the allegations--by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble--that means not tell the truth."
    (George W. Bush, on an Amnesty International report on prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Washington, D.C., May 31, 2005)


  • "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight."
    (Federal Express advertising slogan)


  • "Helvetica is a typeface, or more appropriately, the typeface of the 20th century."
    (Kit Roane, "A Typeface for All Time," U.S. News, August 13, 2007)


  • "From the initial claims of WMD to the foolish presidential insistence that we need to 'stay the course,' which, he said in a depressingly redundant explanation, 'means, "Keep doing what you’re doing,"' we have become accustomed to a certain suspension of reality in the discussion of war and its accompanying issues."
    (editorial in National Catholic Reporter, March 19, 2006)

Pronunciation: ee-PEK-si-gee-sisAudio Link

Also Known As: explanatio

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