noun, plural ap·o·si·o·pe·ses [ap-uh-sahy-uh–pee-seez] /ˌæp əˌsaɪ əˈpi siz/. Rhetoric.
- a sudden breaking off in the midst of a sentence, as if from inability or unwillingness to proceed.
noun plural -ses (-siːz)
- rhetoric the device of suddenly breaking off in the middle of a sentence as if unwilling to continue
rhetorical artifice wherein the speaker suddenly breaks off in the middle of a sentence, 1570s, from Latin, from Greek aposiopesis “a becoming silent,” also as a rhetorical figure, from apo- (see apo-) + siope “silence.”