||Ca*tas"ta*sis (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to set; kata` down + &?; to place.] 1. (Rhet.) That part of a speech, usually the exordium, in which the orator sets forth the subject matter to be discussed.

2. (Med.) The state, or condition of anything; constitution; habit of body.

• in classical drama, the third and penultimate section, in which action is heightened for the catastrophe
       *1922: It doubles itself in the middle of his life, reflects itself in another, repeats itself, protasis, epitasis, catastasis, catastrophe. — James Joyce, Ulysses
       *1965: ‘The object of the meta-theatre is precisely that – to allow the participants to see through their first roles in it. But that is only the catastasis.' — John Fowles, The Magus