Meaning of cataplexis | Babel Free

Definitions

A rhetorical device in which a threat of retribution (especially of divine punishment) is made in response to wrongdoing.

rhetoric, uncountable

Examples

“In III.v's [sc. Ben Jonson's Epicoene] final sixty lines, Morose and Truewit wish calamity on Cutbeard: 'May he get the itch, and his shop so lousy as no man dare come at him' (III.v.70-71). They focus half of their cataplexis on Cutbeard's body, which they hope will develop blotches and gout, and the other half on the objects of his trade.”

CEFR level