perlocutionary act

English - English

Definition of perlocutionary act in English English dictionary

A perlocutionary act (or perlocutionary effect) is a speech act, as viewed at the level of its psychological consequences , such as persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise getting someone to do or realize something. This is contrasted with locutionary and illocutionary acts (which are other levels of description, rather than different types of speech acts)