a figure of speech in which an appeal is made to one's listeners or opponents for their opinion or judgment as to the subject under discussion
Word origin
[1580–90; ‹ ML ‹ Gk anakoínōsis, equiv. to anakoinō-, var. s. of anakoinoûn to impart (ana-ana- + koinoûn to make common, deriv. of koinósceno-2) + -sis-sis]