Standard Lemma guide

mempsis

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A figure of speech expressing complaint or seeking help or redress for a wrong or grievance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: rhetoric, uncountable

Examples

  • 2008, Daily Trope: "Mempsis (memp'-sis): Expressing complaint and seeking help. Something is very wrong and it needs a lot of fixing."
  • 1675, Thomas Cock, Miscelanea medica: "A mannerly condescension as this would have better become mempsis than an unmanly disdain."

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέμψις (mémpsis, “blame, complaint, reproach”), from μέμφομαι (mémphomai, “to blame, to complain”) + -σις (-sis, “-sis”).