Antimetabole Definition and Examples
Antimetabole is a rhetorical device where a phrase or sentence is repeated in reversed order. The word “antimetabole” comes from the Greek for “turning about in the opposite direction.” This perfectly describes how the words in the structure shift places.
Here’s an antimetabole example from Scorates: “One should eat to live, not live to eat.” In this sentence, the phrases “eat to live” and “live to eat” are used in reverse order to emphasize the contrast between two different philosophies of life. The first part of the statement suggests that the purpose of eating is to sustain life, implying a practical and necessary perspective on food. The second part inverts the first, suggesting that living primarily for the pleasure of eating represents a misguided or less ideal perspective.
This structure perfectly illustrates antimetabole because it uses the exact same words in both parts of the sentence but reverses their order to highlight a significant contrast in meaning.
An antimetabole can sometimes be confused with chiasmus and anadiplosis. In antimetabole, the exact same words must be used in both parts of the statement.
Let’s check this sentence to understand the differences: “Strength through wisdom, wisdom through experience; experience brings strength.”
- Chiasmus: This device involves a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases. In the statement “Strength through wisdom, wisdom through experience,” “Wisdom through experience” is in chiasmus, for it is a reversal of words from “wisdom” to “experience,” with the same structure. Chiasmus focuses more on the reversal of the structure than on the exact repetition of words.
- Antimetabole: This device is a more specific form of chiasmus where the exact words are used in reverse order. Our sentence lacks a good example of antimetabole, as the same words are not repeated in reverse order within a single clause. However, with slight modification to “Strength through wisdom, wisdom through strength,” it would most certainly have become an example of antimetabole, where the words “strength” and “wisdom” are verbatim but just flipped around.
- Anadiplosis: This is the repetition of the last word from one clause or sentence in the beginning of the next one. In our case, “wisdom through experience; experience brings strength” displays anadiplosis. This is, therefore, the word of this first clause, which is immediately used at the beginning of the next clause, to connect up the ideas and keep the flow from one concept to the other.
Antimetabole Examples
- “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” From Shakespeare’s Macbeth, this line is spoken by the witches, embodying the play’s theme of things not being as they appear.
- “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” This adage emphasizes that strong people rise to the occasion during difficult times.
- “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” This saying, often attributed to Mark Twain, suggests that courage and tenacity are more important than physical size.
- “Don’t let your learning lead to knowledge. Let your learning lead to action,” This quote by Jim Rohn employs antimetabole by reversing the order of “learning” and “knowledge/action” in successive sentences to emphasize a critical distinction in the approach to personal and professional development.
- “Live simply so that others might simply live,” attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, uses though not a strict antimetabole, uses a simple reordering of words to convey a deep message about the consequences of personal lifestyle choices on the broader community and world.
