prosopopoeia
/pɹəˌsəʊpəˈpiːə/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An act of personifying a person or object when communicating to an audience; a figure of speech involving this.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Of the prosopopœia or personification, there are two kinds: one when action and character are attributed to fictitious, irrational, or even inanimate objects; the others, when a probable but fictitious speech is assigned to a real character."
- "Prosopopœia a new person feigns, And to inanimates speech and actions deigns."
- "Hence the frequency and beauty of the prosopopoeia in poetry, where trees, mountains, and streams are personified, and the inanimate parts of nature acquire sentiment and passion."
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek προσωποποιία (prosōpopoiía, “dramatization, the putting of speeches into the mouths of characters”). By surface analysis, prosopo- + -poeia.