| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Denotation | The dictionary definition of a word. |
| Connotation | The thoughts, feelings, and images associated with a word. What a word makes you think of. |
| Synonym | Words that have the same meaning. |
| Antonym | words that have completely opposite meanings. |
| Homonym | Words that are spelled the same way, but have different meanings. |
| Homophone | Words that sound exactly the same, but have different meanings. |
| Symbol | The use of an object, thing, or idea to represent a bigger meaning. |
| Metaphor | A comparison without using the words like or as. |
| Simile | A comparison using the words like or as. |
| Hyperbole | An exaggeration. |
| Onomatopoeia | The use of words to imitate sound. |
| Personification | Giving human qualities, emotions and actions to nonhuman things. |
| Alliteration | Repeating initial consonant sounds in a line or passage of words. |
| Assonance | Repetition of vowel sounds at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. |
| Consonance | Repetition of consonant sounds anywhere within a word. |
| Idiom | Popular expressions or sayings. |
| Oxymoron | Combinations of contradicting terms. |
| Allusion | Reference to someone or something from a well known source. |
| Ironic | When you say or do one thing, but you mean something else, or when something happens and it isn't expected. |
| Antithesis | A contrasting statement, where the beginning of the sentence or statement is the complete opposite of the remainder of the statement. |
| Metonymy | When you substitute a word or phrase with a more simple word related to it. |
| Archetype | A pattern of a character or plot that is repeated again and again. |
| Euphemism | Saying things in a nicer, more polite way. Substituting an offensive term for an inoffensive more acceptable word. |
| Apostrophe | When the writer or speaker of a poem addresses someone or something that cannot answer back. |
| Paradox | A statement that seems absurd or contradictory, but when investigated may prove to have truth to it. |
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