the device of mentioning a subject by stating that it will not be mentioned
I shall not discuss his cowardice or his treachery
Word origin
C17: via Latin from Greek: denial, from apo- + phanai to say
apophasis in American English
(əˈpɑfəsɪs)
noun
Rhetoric
denial of one's intention to speak of a subject that is at the same time named or insinuated, as “I shall not mention Caesar's avarice, nor his cunning, nor his morality”
Word origin
[1650–60; ‹ LL ‹ Gk: a denial, equiv. to apópha(nai) to say no, deny (apo-apo- + phánai to say) + -sis-sis]This word is first recorded in the period 1650–60. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: backhand, gas, oscillation, pony, profile-sis is a suffix appearing in loanwords from Greek, where it was used to form from verbsabstract nouns of action, process, state, condition, etc. Other words that use theaffix -sis include: anamnesis, crisis, prolepsis, symbiosis, thesis