erotesis

English

Etymology

From Late Latin erotesis, from Ancient Greek ἐρώτησις (erṓtēsis), from ἐρωτάω (erōtáō, “I question”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛɹəˈtiːsɪs/

Examples (rhetoric)
Alan Moore, V for Vendetta (1982) The only freedom left to my people is the freedom to starve. The freedom to die, the freedom to live in a world of chaos. Should I allow them that freedom?

Noun

erotesis (plural eroteses)

1. (rhetoric) A figure of speech whereby a question is asked in confident expectation of a negative answer.
   • 1759, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XIX, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 2nd (1st London) edition, volume I, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 126:

     he would ſometimes break off in a ſudden and ſpirited Epiphonema, or rather Erotesis […] and demand it categorically of his antagoniſt, Whether he would take upon him to ſay, he had ever remember'd,—whether he had ever read,–or even whether he had ever heard tell of a man, call'd Tristram, performing any thing great or worth recording?–No–, he would ſay,–Tristram!–The thing is impoſſible.

   • 1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 31:

     By Erotesis, what we know we ask,
     Prescribing, for effect, a needless task.

Derived terms

• erotetic

Anagrams

• erotises, isoester, isostere