prozeugma

noun

Meaning

A rhetorical figure where a single verb or adjective is placed at the beginning of a sentence to govern several subsequent clauses or phrases.

Examples

  • By using prozeugma, the orator managed to make the long list of demands sound like a single, unified action.
  • The poet employed prozeugma to link the disparate images of the sea, the sky, and the earth under one descriptive verb.

Synonyms: ellipsis, zeugma, syllepsis