Adynaton as a Figure of Speech

Lecture

Adynaton (from Ancient Greek ἀδύνᾰτον “impossible”) — a figure of speech in the form of a hyperbole, in which something impossible or extremely difficult to accomplish is compared, by means of an abstract example and strong exaggeration, to some unreal situation, to something that by its very nature cannot be. A rhetorical device of carrying a comparison to the point of impossibility, often with a humorous effect.

Typical examples:

The hyperbole given in the Gospels of Matthew (19:24) and Mark (10:25): “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God”
The catachrestic idiom: “When the crawfish whistles on the hill” (a Russian equivalent of “when pigs fly”)
Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2: “… to the precious prince, on whose chin the down has not yet grown. Sooner will a beard grow on the palm of my hand than on his face …”
The reply of the commandant of the Izmail fortress, Aydozle Mehmet Pasha, to the ultimatum of A. V. Suvorov: “Sooner will the Danube flow backward and the sky fall to the earth than Izmail surrender”

Figures of Speech
Figures	Adynaton • Allusion • Amplification • Anadiplosis • Anacoluthon • Anaphora • Antithesis • Antitheton • Apocope • Apostrophe • Attraction • Asyndeton • Hyperbaton •Homoioteleuton • Gradation (Climax, Anticlimax) • Distinctio • Zeugma • Isocolon • Nominative of Theme • Inversion • Correctio • Mesarchia •Polyptoton • Polysyndeton • Oxymoron • Parallelism • Paronomasia • Parcellation • Periphrasis • Pleonasm • Prolepsis • Retardation •Rhetorical Question • Rhetorical Exclamation • Rhetorical Address • Symploce • Solecism • Tautology • Exact Repetition • Aposiopesis • Chiasmus • Exergasia •Ellipsis • Emphasis • Epiphora
Tropes	Allegory • Antiphrasis • Asteism • Antonomasia • Hyperbole • Dysphemism • Irony • Pun • Catachresis • Litotes • Meiosis • Metaphor • Metonymy • Personification •Pathos • Periphrasis • Sarcasm • Synecdoche • Simile • Euphemism • Epithet

Adynaton • Allusion • Amplification • Anadiplosis • Anacoluthon • Anaphora • Antithesis • Antitheton • Apocope • Apostrophe • Attraction • Asyndeton • Hyperbaton •Homoioteleuton • Gradation (Climax, Anticlimax) • Distinctio • Zeugma • Isocolon • Nominative of Theme • Inversion • Correctio • Mesarchia •Polyptoton • Polysyndeton • Oxymoron • Parallelism • Paronomasia • Parcellation • Periphrasis • Pleonasm • Prolepsis • Retardation •Rhetorical Question • Rhetorical Exclamation • Rhetorical Address • Symploce • Solecism • Tautology • Exact Repetition • Aposiopesis • Chiasmus • Exergasia •Ellipsis • Emphasis • Epiphora

Tropes

Allegory • Antiphrasis • Asteism • Antonomasia • Hyperbole • Dysphemism • Irony • Pun • Catachresis • Litotes • Meiosis • Metaphor • Metonymy • Personification •Pathos • Periphrasis • Sarcasm • Synecdoche • Simile • Euphemism • Epithet