Repetition is the simple repeating of a word, within a short space of words (including in a

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

), with no particular placement of the words to secure emphasis, within a short space of words. It is a multilinguistic written or spoken device, frequently used in English and several other languages, such as Hindi and Chinese, and so rarely termed a

figure of speech A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or Denotation, literal meaning to produce a rhetorical or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, et ...

, making it a multilinguistic written or spoken device. Repetition in some cases is seen as undesirable. Its forms, many of which are listed below, have varying resonances to listing (forms of

enumeration An enumeration is a complete, ordered listing of all the items in a collection. The term is commonly used in mathematics and computer science to refer to a listing of all of the element (mathematics), elements of a Set (mathematics), set. The pre ...

, such as "Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly, Firstly and lastly..."), as a matter of trite logic often similar in effect.

Types

Antimetabole In rhetoric, antimetabole ( ) is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed order; for example, "I know what I like, and I like what I know". It is related to, and sometimes considered a special case of, chiasmus. An antime ...

is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed order. : "I know what I like, and I like what I know." * Tautology is superfluous and simple repetition of the same sense in different words. : "The children gathered in a round circle." * Antanaclasis is the repetition of a word or phrase to effect a different meaning. : "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." (

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

) * Epizeuxis or palilogia is the repetition of a single word or phrase, with no other words in between. This is derived from Greek for "fastening together". : "Words, words, words." (''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'') * Conduplicatio is the repetition of a word in various places throughout a paragraph. : "And the world said, 'Disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences'—and therefore, we worked with the world, we worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world." (

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

) *

Anadiplosis Anadiplosis ( ; , ''anadíplōsis'', "a doubling, folding up") is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. The word is used at the end of a sentence and then used again at the beginning of the next sentence, often to create climax. E ...

is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. The word is used at the end of a sentence and then used again at the beginning of the next sentence. : "This, it seemed to him, was the end, the end of a world as he had known it..." ( James Oliver Curwood) * Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of every clause. It comes from the Greek phrase "carrying up or back". : " We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!" Here the words "we shall" are repeated (

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

) *

Epistrophe Epistrophe (, "return") is the repetition of the same word or words at the end of successive phrases, clauses or sentences. It is also known as epiphora and occasionally as antistrophe. It is a figure of speech and the counterpart of anaphora. I ...

is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of every clause. : "that government of the people, by the people, for the people" (

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

Gettysburg Address The Gettysburg Address is a Public speaking, speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, U.S. president, following the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. The speech has come to be viewed as one ...

) : "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us." (

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

) * Mesodiplosis is the repetition of a word or phrase at the middle of every clause. : "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed..." (

Second Epistle to the Corinthians The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author named Saint Timothy, Timothy, and is addressed to the church in Ancient Corin ...

) * Diaphora is the repetition of a name, first to signify the person or persons it describes, then to signify its meaning. In modern English it has become the standard form of

syntax In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...

in the example of the personal possessive pronouns given below. : "For your gods are not gods but man-made idols." (''The Passion of Saints Sergius and Bacchus'') *

Epanalepsis Epanadiplosis (from Ancient Greek ἐπαναδίπλωσις/epanadíplôsis, from ἐπί/epí, “on”, ἀνά/aná, “again”, and διπλόος/diplóos, “double”, “doubling in succession”) is a figure of speech in which the same ...

is the repetition of the initial word or words of a clause or sentence at the end. : "

The king is dead, long live the king! "The king is dead, long live the king!" is a traditional proclamation made following the accession of a new monarch in various countries. The seemingly contradictory phrase simultaneously announces the death of the previous monarch and asserts co ...

" *

Diacope Diacope ( ) is a rhetorical term meaning repetition of a word or phrase that is broken up by a single intervening word, or a small number of intervening words. It derives from a Greek word ''diakopḗ,'' which means "cut in two". Diacopae (or diaco ...

is repetition of a word or phrase with one or two words between each repeated phrase. *

Polyptoton Polyptoton is the stylistic scheme in which different words derived from the same root (such as "strong" and "strength") are used together. A related stylistic device is antanaclasis, in which the same word is repeated, but each time with a dif ...

is the repetition of a word derived from the same root in different grammatical forms. In inflected languages, this commonly refers to the repetition of a single word in different grammatical cases. : "Diamond me no diamonds, prize me no prizes" (

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

, ''Lancelot and Elaine'').

Avoidance of repetition

H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler adopted the term " elegant variation" in ''

The King's English ''The King's English'' is a book on English usage and grammar. It was written by the brothers Henry Watson Fowler and Francis George Fowler and published in 1906; it thus predates by twenty years '' Modern English Usage'', which was written by ...

'' (1906) referring to the use of

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

s to avoid repetition or to add variety. In their meaning of the term, they focus particularly on instances when the word being avoided is a

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

or its

pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (Interlinear gloss, glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the part of speech, parts of speech, but so ...

. Pronouns are themselves variations intended to avoid awkward repetition, and variations are so often not necessary, that they should be used only when needed. The Fowlers recommend that "variations should take place only when there is some awkwardness, such as ambiguity or noticeable monotony, in the word avoided".Fowler, Henry W. and Fowler F. G. ''The King's English''. Oxford University Press. 190
p. 175-179
Avoidance of "useless repetitions" was one of the aims of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

when the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

was revised by the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

.Second Vatican Council
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
paragraph 31, published on 4 December 1963, accessed on 13 June 2025

References

{{Authority control Literary theory Rhetorical techniques Typography

Types

Avoidance of repetition

See also

References