Home › Glossary › Letter C

Correctio

Rhetorical Devices
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Correctio is a deliberate correction or replacement of a word or statement with a stronger, more precise expression. It often creates emphasis by showing the speaker revising language in the moment.

Detailed Definition
Correctio occurs when a speaker appears to withdraw or amend an earlier phrase in order to substitute a more fitting, forceful, or revealing one. The revision may move from mild to intense, from general to exact, or from polite language to blunt truth. Poets use it to make a voice seem spontaneous and emotionally pressured, as though ordinary words cannot adequately contain the feeling. The turn of correction can also add irony, expose hesitation, or make an image strike with greater accuracy and dramatic force.
Example
Example in poetry:
“I saw a star—no, a whole heaven opening”; “She was sad, or rather, desolate”; “The river whispered, I should say, sang”; “He walked away—he fled—from the burning house”
Additional Notes
Correctio lets a speaker seem to revise thought in real time: “It was sad—no, devastating.” The replacement should sharpen, enlarge, or complicate the first wording. Because it dramatizes hesitation or urgency, it can reveal character as well as intensify an image.
Also Known As
Rhetorical Correction Self-Revision Metanoia
Skip to main content