Asyndeton
Asyndeton is the omission of the conjunctions that would normally join items in a series, so the elements are set down one after another with only commas between them.
He checked the locks, the windows, the back gate, the shed.
No and anywhere. The list arrives as a rush, and because there is no conjunction announcing the final item, the sentence sounds unfinished even at the full stop: the reader half expects another lock. That open-endedness is what asyndeton is for: haste, accumulation, a list that could go on.
Compare the ordinary version: He checked the locks, the windows, the back gate and the shed. The and closes the set. It tells the reader in advance that the shed is the last item, and the sentence settles.
Asyndeton examples
Veni, vidi, vici.
Julius Caesar: I came, I saw, I conquered. Asyndeton as well as parallelism; I came and I saw and I conquered would be a different, slower claim.
...government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address (1863). Three phrases with no and before the last, so the rhythm drives straight into the verb.
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). Seven words piled up with no conjunction, so the list feels like it is running out of breath trying to keep up with how bad Scrooge is.
- Phone, keys, wallet, go. A character's panic, clipped to the bone.
- She was tired, hungry, done. Three items, and the last word shuts the door.
Asyndeton vs polysyndeton
Its opposite is polysyndeton, which adds conjunctions rather than removing them and slows the same list down. The locks, the windows, the gate, the shed hurries. The locks and the windows and the gate and the shed trudges. Ordinary usage sits between them.
When to use it
Asyndeton suits panic, inventory and exhaustion, so it belongs to moments rather than to whole chapters. It is also common in speeches and slogans, because the missing and makes a list sound more forceful. And it is only asyndeton when the omission is doing something. A writer who never uses and has a tic, not a figure.
Frequently asked questions
What is asyndeton?
Asyndeton is a figure of speech in which the usual conjunctions, especially 'and', are left out of a list or series. 'I came, I saw, I conquered' is the classic example: there is no 'and' before the last item.
What is the effect of asyndeton?
It speeds the sentence up and makes it feel urgent or clipped. Because there is no 'and' to signal the last item, the list can also feel as if it might keep going.
What is the opposite of asyndeton?
Polysyndeton, which adds a conjunction between every item instead of removing them, so the list slows down and each item gets extra weight.