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Definition 2024


centonical

centonical

English

Adjective

centonical (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to a cento (work quoting from other authors).
    • 1966, Roman Jakobson, Slavic Epic Studies, page 551:
      In technical terms, the Zadonščina could be defined as a centonical palinode, i.e. as a composition built up primarily on literal or paraphrased quotations and intended to counterbalance or refute the quoted work.
    • 1978, Robert Marcellus Browning, German poetry in the Age of the Enlightenment: from Brockes to Klopstock:
      The end of the poem offers a good example of his centonical procedure.
    • 2012, Kip Lornell, Exploring American Folk Music, page 181:
      Ballads in the black tradition are also often centonical—they borrow thematic elements from a variety of sources to build something new.