Brevitas is a rhetorical style Rhetorica ad Herennium calls "the expressing of an idea by the very minimum of essential words."[1][2]

By implying more than is said, it is distinguished from tautology and understatement.

Brevitas is related to concision, parataxis, sprezzatura, and elliptic style.[3][4] It contrasts with periphrasis, aureation and pleonasm.

References

  1. ^ Blacketer (2006). The School of God: Pedagogy and Rhetoric in Calvin's Interpretation of Deuteronomy. ISBN 9781402039133.
  2. ^ "Changing Minds: Brevitas".
  3. ^ Thijs Weststeijn (2008). The Visible World: Samuel Van Hoogstraten's Art Theory and the Legitimation of Painting in the Dutch Golden Age. Amsterdam University Press. pp. 231–234. ISBN 9789089640277.
  4. ^ Heinrich F. Plett (2010). Literary Rhetoric: Concepts — Structures — Analyses. Brill Publishers. p. 188. ISBN 978-9004171138.
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