Question

What is the recurrence of words or phrases in a rhetorical device known as?

Answer 1

Repetition, Tricolon or Anaphora

Explanation:

Repetition is three words in a row, such as ‘buy, buy, buy!’.

This could also be a Tricolon, which is just a list of three things, such as ‘he was smart, fast and handsome.’

Finally this could ALSO be Anaphora, which is repetition of a short phrase. Take Abraham Lincolns' Gettysburg Address, ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’.