| Term | Definition |
|---|
| allegory | an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances, a visible symbol representing an abstract idea |
| alliteration | the commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter, as in apt alliteration's artful aid. |
| allusion | a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication: an allusion to Shakespeare. |
| euphemism | the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. |
| hyperbole | obvious and intentional exaggeration. |
| idiom | an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, as kick the bucket |
| irony | the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning |
| metaphor | something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol. |
| oxymoron | a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in "cruel kindness" or "to make haste slowly." |
| paradox | any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature. |
| satire | the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.; poking fun at something serious |
| simile | a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in "she is like a rose." |
| theme | a subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition; topic: |
| tone | a particular quality, way of sounding, modulation, or intonation of the voice as expressive of some meaning, feeling, spirit, |
| voice | expression in spoken or written words, or by other means |
| assonance | repetition of vowel sounds |
| consonance | repetition of consonant sounds |
| connotation | implication |
| denotation | definition |
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