Figures Of Speech Lit Terms

Front 1

an indirect or passing reference to an events, person, place or artistic work tha the author assumes the reader will understand.

Back 1

Allusion

Front 2

an event, object, custom, person, or thing that is out of its natural order of time. A clock strikes in Julius Caesar

Back 2

Anachronism

Front 3

a comparison of similar things, often to explain something unfamiliar with something familiar.

Back 3

Analogy

Front 4

A terse statement of a principal or truth; a maxim. A proverb with particularly good phrasing

Back 4

aphorism

Front 5

a rhetorical device in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent person, or an inanimate object or abstraction.

Back 5

Apostrophe

Front 6

any expression that has been used so often is has lost its freshness (the last straw, sharp as a tack)

Back 6

cliche

Front 7

any terse, witty, pointed saying that has a punch-line or satirical twist. For example, "she knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing."

Back 7

epigram

Front 8

The substitution of a mild term for one more offensive or hurtful (ex. Passed away instead of died)

Back 8

euphemism

Front 9

language that contains figures of speech, such as metaphor, simile, personification, etc.

Back 9

figurative language

Front 10

exaggeration for the sake of emphasis in a figure of speech not meant literally

Back 10

hyperbole

Front 11

A metaphoric compound word or phrase as a synonym for a common noun. "ring bestower" for king, "candle of heaven" for sun etc.

Back 11

Kenning

Front 12

a figure of speech by which an affirmation is made indirectly by saying its opposite, usually with an effect of understatement. Ex. "I'd not be averse to a drink.'

Back 12

Litotes (LIE toe tees)

Front 13

the comic substitution of one word for another similar in sound by quite different in meaning.

Back 13

malapropism

Front 14

the most important and widespread figure of speech in which one thing, idea, or action is referred ot by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea, or actoin, so as to suggest some common quality (qualities) shared by the two.

Back 14

metaphor

Front 15

an idea sustained throughout the work

Back 15

extended metaphor

Front 16

one tha thas been used so much it has lost ts figurative meaning and is taken literally. (ex. head of the class)

Back 16

dead metaphor

Front 17

a combination of one or more inconsistent metaphors in a single expression

Back 17

mixed metaphor

Front 18

figure of speech in which a representative term is used for a larger idea. The pen (written word) is mightier than the sword (war).

Back 18

Metonymy (met ON a me)

Front 19

the use of words that seem to imitate the sounds they refer to

Back 19

onomatopoeia

Front 20

a figure of speech in which two contradictory words or phrases are combined in a single expression

Back 20

oxymoron

Front 21

the technique by which animals, abstract ideas, or inanimate objects are referred to as if they were human.

Back 21

personification

Front 22

a short saying that expresses some commonplace truth or bit of folk wisdom. ex. forgive and forget

Back 22

Proverb

Front 23

a form of wit, not necessarily funny, involving a play on a word with two or more meanings.

Back 23

Pun

Front 24

a less direct metaphor, using like or as

Back 24

simile

Front 25

a form of logical reasoning, consisting of two premises and a conclusion

Back 25

syllogism

Front 26

the description of one kind of sensation in terms of another. "he is wearing a loud shirt."

Back 26

synaesthesia (SIN as THEEZ zha)

Front 27

figure of speech that utilizes a part as representative of the whole ex. "hands" for manual laborers.

Back 27

synecdoche (sin EK da kee)

Front 28

repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase or sentence

Back 28

tautology

Front 29

a type of verbal irony in which something is purposely represented as being far less important than it actually is.

Back 29

understatement