Par`a*leip"sis (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. , fr. to leave on one side, to omit; beside + to leave.] Rhet. A pretended or apparent omission; a figure by which a speaker artfully pretends to pass by what he really mentions; as, for example, if an orator should say, "I do not speak of my adversary's scandalous venality and rapacity, his brutal conduct, his treachery and malice." [Written also paralepsis, paralepsy, paralipsis.]
© Webster 1913. | 
