| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Alliteration | repetition of the same consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words |
| Allusion | a reference in literature to an event or person in history, myth, or other piece of literature |
| Anecdote | a short, often biographical, narrative of an interesting or amusing incident used to elaborate a point |
| Assonance | the repetition of internal vowel sounds usually close together for aesthetic or humorous effect |
| Connotation | the range of secondary or associated significances and feelings which a word or phrase commonly suggests or implies |
| Euphemism | a mild word or phrase which substitutes for another which would be too direct |
| Hyperbole | a purposeful exaggeration |
| Imagery | passages or words that stir feelings or memories through the five senses |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech that makes an imaginative comparison between two unlike things. No "like" or "as" |
| Onomatopoeia | any words that sounds like what it names |
| Oxymoron | a figure of speech which combines apparently contradictory words and meanings for special effect |
| Personification | giving an inanimate object human attributes or feelings |
| Simile | a comparison using "like" or "as" |
| Apostrophe | the act of directly addressing an absent person or a personified thing |
| Paradox | a statement that seems contradictory on the surface, but is actually true |
| Irony | a discrepancy between what appears to be and what really is |
| Verbal Irony | what is meant is the opposite of what is said |
| Dramatic Irony | audience is aware of something that the characters are not |
| Situational Irony | a discrepancy between what someone expects to happen and what really happens |
| Metonymy | a figure of speech in which one thing is presented by another that is commonly and often associated with it (White house - president) |
| Synecdoche | a type of symbolism in which a part of thing represents that thing itself (all hands on deck) |
| Pun | a play on words based on the similarity of sound between two words with different meanings |
| Antithesis | a figure of speech in which one term is blanced against another for emphasis |
| Understatement | a figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means |
| Parody | imitation with the goal of amusing through empasis or exaggeration |
| Parallelism | balance is syntactical expression; repeated grammatical patterns in phrases |
| Allegory | when a character, object or incident indicates a single, fixed meaning |
| Symbol | when a character, object, name, or incident maintains its literal meaning while suggesting other meanings |
Combine with other sets
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