Repetition (device)
Figures of speechDeliberate reuse of a word or structure to create rhythm, emphasis or obsession — distinct from accidental repetition.
Example
"Hold on. Hold on still. Hold on no matter what."
Deliberate repetition reuses a word, group or structure for effect: emphasis ("never, never, never"), the obsession of a circling mind, a refrain scanning a text. At the head of sentences it becomes anaphora; at the end, epistrophe — but the mechanics are the same: what returns, weighs.
The border with accidental repetition — the tic, the crutch word — is a matter of control. Chosen repetition is rare, visible, rhythmic; suffered repetition is diffuse and invisible to the author alone. It's one of the things assisted revision detects better than the naked eye.
In the workshop
Extypis highlights your text's accidental repetitions and offers synonyms in one click — the figure stays, the tic goes.
Put this term to work
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