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Literature vocabulary · Literary Devices and Figures of Speech

Polysyndeton

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In literature, polysyndeton means: The deliberate use of more conjunctions than ordinary grammar requires.

In Turkish: çok bağlaçlı anlatım, polisindeton

How it is used

Use to explain how repeated conjunctions can slow a list, add weight or suggest abundance.

Example sentences

  1. The polysyndeton in 'rain and mud and cold and hunger' makes the journey feel exhausting.

    Each added conjunction makes another hardship demand attention.

  2. The child's polysyndeton turns a list of birthday gifts into an excited rush of speech.

    Repeated connections reproduce the child's eager accumulation of details.

Common collocations

  • use polysyndeton
  • the effect of polysyndeton
  • rhythmThe pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, pauses and speed in a line of poetry or prose, which gives it a sense of movement.
  • dictionA writer's or speaker's choice of words, especially as it shapes tone, style, formality, and meaning.

More terms: Literary Devices and Figures of Speech

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