Aposiopesis (from Classical Greek, ἀποσιώπησις, "becoming silent") is the term, coined by Otto Jespersen, for the rhetorical device by which the speaker or writer deliberately stops short and leaves something unexpressed, but yet obvious, to be supplied by the imagination, giving the impression that she is unwilling or unable to continue. It often portrays being overcome with passion (fear, anger, excitement) or modesty. The ellipsis or dash is used.

The traditional example of aposiopesis is the threat of Neptune in Virgil's Aeneid 1.135:

Quos ego—!

Meaning, in context, "Such rebels I—!" This mirrors a more modern example, from Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer: "Well, I lay if I get ahold of you I'll–."

A biblical example can be found in Psalm 27, verse 13. The Hebrew, written by King David (c. 1005 BC - 965 BC), says in English: "Unless I had believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living . . . " The implication is that David does not know what he would have done.

Another common example comes from William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, 3.2.104-107, in which Antony interrupts his own speech at Caesar's funeral:

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason. Bear with me,

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,

And I must pause till it come back to me.

In common syntax, an aposiopesis may arise when the protasis of a condition is stated without an ensuing apodosis.

References

Rhetoric | Aposiopese | Aposiopesi | Aposiopesis | Zamilknięcie | Aposiopesis