| Term | Definition |
|---|
| conflict | Opposition between characters or forces in a work of drama or fiction |
| figurative language | speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning |
| flashback | by which an event or scene taking place before the present time in the narrative is inserted into the chronological structure of the work. |
| foreshadowing | to show or indicate beforehand |
| hyperbole | obvious and intentional exaggeration |
| inversion | any change from a basic word order or syntactic sequence, as in the placement of a subject after an auxiliary verb in a question or after the verb in an exclamation, as "When will you go?" and "How beautiful is the rose!" |
| irony | the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning |
| metaphor | A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in "a sea of troubles" |
| metonymy | A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated |
| onomatopoeia | The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. |
| paradox | a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. |
| personification | the attribution of a personal nature or character to inanimate objects or abstract notions |
| satire | the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. |
| symbolism | the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character. |
| synaesthesia | A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color. |
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