Chiasmus

Pronunciation: ki-az'-mus

Alternate Spelling: Gk. "a diagonal arrangement"

Definition

Repetition of ideas in inverted order Repetition of grammatical structures in inverted order (not to be mistaken with antimetabole, in which identical words are repeated and inverted).

Examples

But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strong loves.

Shakespeare, Othello 3.3 The idea of affection occurs in "dotes" and "strongly loves"; the idea of doubting in "doubts" and "suspects". These two ideas occur in the quotation in an A B B A order, thus repeated and inverted It is boring to eat; to sleep is fulfilling The pattern is present participle-infinitive; infinitive-present participle