asyndeton
Sign in to saveAlso known as asyndetism, asyndetic coordination
Asyndeton (, ; from the , sometimes called asyndetism) is a literary scheme in which one or several conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples include veni, vidi, vici and its English translation "I came, I saw, I conquered". Its use can have the effect of speeding up the rhythm of a passage and making a single idea more memorable. Asyndeton may be contrasted with syndeton (syndetic coordination) and polysyndeton, which describe the use of one or multiple coordinating conjunctions, respectively.
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Examples
- Omission of conjunction "and"
- Omission of conjunction "or"
- See also
- Footnotes
- Sources
- External links
Asyndeton (, ; from the , sometimes called asyndetism) is a literary scheme in which one or several conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples include veni, vidi, vici and its English translation "I came, I saw, I conquered". Its use can have the effect of speeding up the rhythm of a passage and making a single idea more memorable. Asyndeton may be contrasted with syndeton (syndetic coordination) and polysyndeton, which describe the use of one or multiple coordinating conjunctions, respectively.
More generally, in grammar, an asyndetic coordination is a type of coordination in which no coordinating conjunction is present between the conjuncts.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “asyndeton” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.