| Term | Definition |
|---|
| metaphor | when something is something else; implied comparison between two things of unlike nature. ex. the ladder of success. |
| simile | when something is like something else; explicit comparison between two things of unlike nature. ex. he was as unpleasant as a wart. |
| metonymy | substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant. using a vaguely suggestive physical object to embody a more general idea. ex. crown---royalty. |
| synecdoche | figure of speech in which a part stands for a whole. using a part of a physical object to represent the whole object. ex. a hungry stomach has no ears. |
| pun | (also paronomasia)twists the meaning of words, often to create a humorous effect. ex. Johnny B. Good |
| zeugma | artfully using one verb with two or more different objects |
| paronomasia | the use of words that sound alike but are different in meaning. ex. ask me tomorrow and you will find me a grave man. |
| atanaclasis | repetition of a word in two different senses. ex. if we don't hang together, we'll hang separately. your argument is sound, nothing but sound. |
| tropes | figures of speech with an unexpected twist in the meaning of words |
| personification | giving human qualities to inatimate objects. ex. the ground thirsts for rain; the wind whispered secrets to us |
| prosopopeia | powerful personification in which an inatimate object gains the ability to speak |
| apostrophe | addressing someone or some personified abstraction that is not physically present. ex. oh, death, be not proud |
| erotema | asking a rhetorical question to the reader as a transition or as a thought-provoking tool before proceding. ex. what should honest citizens do? |
| onomatapoeia | words that sound like what they mean. ex. buzz, click, rattle, snap, crackle |
| hyperbole | exaggeration. ex. your momma's so fat.. |
| meiosis | understatement. ex. i was somewhat worried when the psychopath ran toward me with a chainsaw |
| litotes | a type of meiosis in which the writer uses a statement in the negative to create the effect. ex. you know, einstein is not a bad mathematician |
| anthimeria | using a different part of speech to act as another, such as a verb for a noun, a noun for a verb, an adjective as a verb, etc. ex. GIFT him with sports illustrated magazine for christmas. he sang his didn't, he danced his did. |
| catachresis | a completely impossible figure of speech |
| synesthesia | mixing one type of sensory input with another in an impossible way, such as speaking of how a color sounds, or how a smell looks |
| aporia | talking about not being able to talk about something |
| aposiopesis | breaking off as if unable to continue |
| oxymoron/paradox | using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense |
| syllepsis | use of a word understood differently in relation to two or more other words |
| irony | use of word in such a way to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word |
| periphrasis | (antomasia) the substitution of a descriptive word or phrase of a proper name for a quality associated with the name |
| rhetorical question | asked not for the purpose of eliciting an answer, but for the purpose of asserting or denying something obliquely |
Combine with other sets
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