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Having sword-shaped leaves, or appendages; ensiform.

Bearing a sword.

Having the form of a sword blade; sword-shaped; as, an ensiform leaf. Ensiform cartilage, and Ensiform process. (Anat.) See Xiphisternum.

To make distinctly audible; to utter articulately; to pronounce; as, to enunciate a word distinctly.

That which is enunciated or announced; words in which a proposition is expressed; an announcement; a formal declaration; a statement. Every intelligible enunciation must be either true or false. A. Clarke.

A figure by which the same word is used both at the beginning and at the end of a sentence; as, "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." Phil. iv. 4.

A figure by which the same word or clause is repeated after intervening matter. Gibbs.

A figure by which a speaker recalls a word or words, in order to substitute something else stronger or more significant; as, Most brave! Brave, did I say most heroic act!

The insertion of a letter or a sound in the body of a word; as, the b in "nimble" from AS. nemol.

Inserted in the body of a word; as, an epenthetic letter or sound.

Epic. -- Ep"ic*al*ly, adv. Poems which have an epical character. Brande & C. His [Wordsworth's] longer poems (miscalled epical). Lowell.

The emphatic repetition of a word or phrase, at the end of several sentences or stanzas.

A figure in which successive clauses end with the same word or affirmation; e. g., "Are they Hebrews so am I. Are they Israelites so am I." 2 Cor. xi. 22.

The addition of a letter at the end of a word, without changing its sense; as, numb for num, whilst for whiles.

To diminish, as by cutting off something; to curtail; as, to epitomize words. [Obs.] Addison.

A figure by which a word is repeated with vehemence or emphasis, as in the following lines: - Alone, alone, all all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea. Coleridge.

counts, burdens, or taxes. One poor moment can suffice To equalize the lofty and the low. Wordsworth. No system of instruction will completely equalize natural powers. Whately.

e repealed, the Protestants were entitled to some equivalent. . . . During some weeks the word equivalent, then lately imported from France, was in the mouths of all the coffeehouse. Macaulay.

A word or expression capable of different meanings; an ambiguous term; an equivoque. In languages of great ductility, equivocals like that just referred to are rarely found. Fitzed. Hall.

To use words of equivocal or doubtful signification; to express one's opinions in terms which admit of different senses, with intent to deceive; to use ambiguous expressions with a view to mislead; as, to equivocate is the work of duplicity. All that Garnet had to say for him was that he supposed he meant to equivocate…