A rhetorical device in which conjunctions are left out of a sentence, leaving only commas or no punctuation to connect phrases or clauses.
From Greek 'a-' (not) + 'syndeton' (bound together), meaning literally 'not bound together.' Ancient Greek and Roman rhetoricians formally identified this technique and gave it this name to categorize persuasive devices.
Ernest Hemingway mastered asyndeton—his sparse, powerful prose came from dropping connecting words, creating the feeling that war and trauma punch too hard for 'and' to matter anymore!
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