Connotation

the suggested meaning of a word apart from its direct meaning

Denotation

the specific, word-for-word, dictionary meaning of a word

Dialect

language distinguished by geographical region

Epithet

descriptive word or phrase used to categorize a person or group of people

Fable

a short fictitious story, often involving personified animals, to illustrate a moral (secular)

Figurative

language not meant to be taken literally

Genre

category, type, or kind

Hyperbole

exaggeration for literary or rhetorical effect

Idiom

figurative words or phrases that are peculiar to a given language, especially those that do not translate from one language to another

Innuendo

implication, insinuation; a meaning not stated directly but more subtly hinted

Jargon

highly specialized language distinguished by common interest such as profession, hobby, etc

Metaphor

a direct comparison between two things that are unlike, in order to show a similarity

Misogyny

the disrespect or hatred of women

Moral

a dogmatic message delivered in a work of art; presumes to tell the audience right from wrong

Myth

an imaginative story invented in an attempt to explain the unexplained

Parable

a short fictitious story that symbolically illustrates a moral, especially a religious one

Philistine

one who is smugly conservative and ignorant of the arts

Propaganda

information (both true and false) intended to manipulate people's opinions

Pun

humorous play on a word with more than one meaning

Reciprocity

a state of equal give and take

Satire

art that ridicules, or makes fun of, human ignorance

Simile

an indirect comparison, using like or as, between two dissimilar things in order to show similarity

Symbolism

the use of concrete words, phrases, images, and objects to represent abstract ideas

Zeitgeist

general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era; the "spirit of the time"