Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
137 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
|
Amplification |
Expansion of detail to clarify a point. |
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. |
|
|
Anacoluthon |
A sudden break in a sentence’s grammatical structure. |
I was all alone - do you know what that's like? |
|
|
Anadiplosis |
Repetition of words, especially located at the end of one phrase or clause and the beginning of the next. |
He didn't take the moped, the moped his mother gave him, the moped I fixed up for him. |
|
|
Anaphora |
Repetition of one or more words at the head of consecutive phrases, clauses, or sentences. |
I came, I saw, I conquered. |
|
|
Anastrophe |
Inversion of word or phrase order to mark emphasis. (more than a single word) |
Enter the dragon! |
|
|
Antanaclasis |
Repetition of a word in a sentence in which a different meaning is applied each time. Pun-like. Same word, different meaning. |
If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired, with enthusiasm. |
|
|
Antiphrasis |
Ironic use of a single word. |
It was a cool 100 degrees in the shade. |
|
|
Antistrophe |
Repetition of a word or phrase at the close of successive clauses. |
You thought he was scared - he was. You saw him as a coward - he was. You thought him brave at the last - he was. |
|
|
Antithesis |
Contrast within parallel phrases (not to be confused with the ordinary use of the word to mean “extreme opposite”). |
Many are called, but few are chosen. |
|
|
Apophasis |
Calling attention to something by dismissing it. |
No one is going to think you're a coward for ignoring his jibes. |
|
|
Antanagoge |
The contradiction of a negative comment with a positive one. |
He wasn't a great father, but he didn't hit his children. |
|
|
Antimetabole |
Reversal of repeated words or phrases for effect. |
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. |
|
|
Aporia |
A statement of hesitation in which characters express to themselves an actual or feigned doubt or dilemma. |
Should I stay or should I go now? |
|
|
Aposiopesis |
Abrupt discontinuation of a statement. |
I swear I oughta... |
|
|
Asyndeton |
Absence of conjunctions. |
We didn't know, we didn't care, we didn't do anything. |
|
|
Auxesis |
Exaggeration, often with sequential enhancement. |
That was great, amazing, fantastic! |
|
|
Bdelygmia |
A rant of abusive language. |
You make stupid people look smart! Hell, you make a dead person look like a genius! |
|
|
Bomphiologia |
Excessive braggadocio. |
I am god's gift, you realize. |
|
|
Brachyology |
An abbreviated expression or telegrammatic statement. |
Hello! Pot, kettle, black! |
|
|
Cacophony |
Deliberate use of harsh letter sounds. |
He clattered and clanged his way through the kitchen. |
|
|
Apostrophe |
Interruption of thought to directly address a person or a personification. |
What do I do, dear reader, indeed? |
|
|
Catachresis |
A hyperbolic metaphor. |
He was a god of the game. |
|
|
Chiasmus |
The reversal of grammatical order from one phrase to the next. A B B A |
Judge not, lest ye be judged. |
|
|
Commoratio |
Repetition of a point with different wording. |
Parrot sketch. |
|
|
Dehortatio |
Imperative advice on how not to act. |
Neither a borrower nor a lender be! |
|
|
Diacope |
Repetition of one or more words after the interval of one or more other words. Like tmesis, but with whole words - not syllables. Also similar to epizeuxis. |
The horror! Oh, the horror! |
|
|
Diatyposis |
Advice |
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. |
|
|
Distinctio |
A definition or clarification of a term. |
He is an ass, which is to say an incompetent. |
|
|
Epanelepsis |
Starting and ending a phrase, clause, or a sentence, or a passage, with the same word or phrase. |
Nothing is worse than doing nothing. |
|
|
Epistrophe |
The repetition of a word at the end of each phrase or clause. |
I will be a good man, like the likes of a good man, speak the speech of a good man. |
|
|
Epizeuxis |
The repetition of a single word for effect. |
You are a bore, bore bore! |
|
|
Hendiadys |
The expression of a single idea by two words connected with “and,” e.g., nice and warm, when one could be used to modify the other, as in nicely warm. |
I made this for you nice and hot. (as opposed to nicely hot) |
|
|
Hyperbaton |
An inversion of the normal order of a single word, especially for the sake of emphasis, as in the sentence “ this I must see." |
You I want to speak to. |
|
|
Litotes |
This is the strategy of understatement often employed to provide subtle emphasis, frequently for ironic effect or to underline a passionate opinion. |
He is no expert on the subject, let me tell you. |
|
|
Meiosis |
A figure of speech whereby something is made to seem smaller or less important than it actually is. Understatement. Litotes. |
'Tis but a flesh wound. (or: It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.) |
|
|
Hysteron-proteron |
A reversal of logical order of elements in a phrase. Putting the cart before the horse. (like hyperbaton) |
I'm going to kill that magician. I'll dismember him, THEN I'll sue him! |
|
|
Metanoia |
The qualification of a statement to either diminish or strengthen its tone. Traditionally, nay a keyword that sets up the shift, but no replaces it in modern usage. |
You are a cad - no, a villain! |
|
|
Paronomasia |
Punning wordplay, including any of many types, including homophonic or homographic puns |
You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish.Unless of course, you play bass. |
|
|
Pleonasm |
Redundancy for emphasis. |
I heard it with my own ears! |
|
|
Polyptoton |
A rhetorical figure involving the repetition of a word in different cases or inflections within the same sentence. Changing cognates. |
You try to forget, and in forgetting, are forgotten. |
|
|
Paregmenon |
A rhetorical technique by which a word is used immediately next to another word from which it is derived. Same cognates in proximity. |
Jovial usage sparks joviality. |
|
|
Polysyndeton |
Insertion of conjunctions before each word in a list. |
We ran and played and talked and laughed and came together as a family. |
|
|
Scesis Onomaton |
1. A sentence constructed only of nouns and adjectives (typically in a regular pattern). 2. A series of successive, synonymous expressions. |
A man faithful in friendship, prudent in counsels, virtuous in conversation, gentle in communication... an enemy to naughtiness, and a lover of all virtue and godliness. |
|
|
Sententia |
Figure of argument in which a wise, witty, or pithy maxim or aphorism is used to sum up the preceding material.. |
He's not what you'd expect. Don't judge a book by its cover, as they say. |
|
|
Sentential adverbs |
These single words or brief phrases emphasize the thought they precede, interrupt, or — rarely — follow. |
You do, no doubt, know his name. |
|
|
Syllepsis |
Application of one part of speech to two divergent phrases where each phrase is semantically sound. |
I will try not to raise my voice or my hopes. |
|
|
Symploce |
A combination of anaphora and epistrophe. (beginning and ending) |
To be one is to be together, but to be apart is to be alone together. |
|
|
Synathroesmus |
A series of adjectives, also known as accumulatio, compiled often in the service of criticism. |
He is the worst, most horrible, stupid, lazy, cowardly man alive. |
|
|
Synecdoche |
Substitution of a part for a whole, one thing for another, or a specific name used for a generic. |
Do you have a Kleenex? My head is killing me. |
|
|
Tapinosis |
A figure of speech whereby something is given less importance by the name given it than it merits. |
Get this cretin out of here. |
|
|
Tetracolon |
A series of four parallel words, phrases,clauses, or statements. |
If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? |
|
|
Isocolon |
A rhetorical device that involves a succession of sentences, phrases and clauses of grammatically equal length. |
bicolon, tetracolon, tricolon |
|
|
Bicolon |
A series of two parallel words, phrases, clauses, or statements |
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. |
|
|
Tricolon |
A series of three parallel words, phrases,clauses, or statements |
I came, I saw, I conquered. |
|
|
Accumulatio |
A series of adjectives, also known as synathroesmus, compiled often in the service of criticism. |
The members of the party drank and ate and laughed and argued; they screamed and screeched and fought the night through. |
|
|
Adynaton |
A form of hyperbole in which exaggeration is taken to a great extreme where it seems impossible. |
I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you Till China and Africa meet. |
|
|
Anagnorisis |
a moment in a plot or story where the main character recognizes his/her true nature, or discovers the true nature of his situation, or that of the others, leading to the resolution of the story. |
Neo dying and coming alive again. |
|
|
Aphorismus |
A rhetorical question used to create a difference between the current situation being discussed and the general idea of the subject. |
So, this low-fat, wheat-filled round thing passes for a donut? |
|
|
Anthimeria |
A rhetorical device that uses a word in a new grammatical shape, often as a noun or a verb. Simply, it replaces one part of the speech with another. |
The thunder would not peace at my bidding. |
|
|
Dysphemism |
The use of disparaging or offensive expressions instead of inoffensive ones. The use of negative expressions instead of positive ones. |
This dung rat will not win the election! |
|
|
Adnomination |
Assigning to a proper name its literal or homophonic meaning. Used in the service of word-play. |
Trump shows his cards on twitter. |
|
|
Antirrhesis |
Rejecting reprehensively the opinion or authority of someone. |
He's no thinker. He's a cad with a mouth full of stones. |
|
|
Asteismus |
A figure of reply in which the answerer catches a certain word and throws it back to the first speaker with an unexpected twist, an unlooked for meaning. |
-Captain Spaulding: Have you met Conductor Hennessey?
-Inspector Hennessey: Inspector. -Captain Spaulding: You inspect her. |
|
|
Asterismos |
A rhetorical term for an introductory word or phrase (such as "behold") that has the primary function of calling attention to what follows.
|
Behold! The spectacle you've all been waiting for! |
|
|
Cataphora |
The use of a word or phrase that refers to or stands for a later word or phrase. |
If you like it, you can have my donut. |
|
|
Conduplicatio |
Figure of repetition in which the key word or words in one phrase, clause, or sentence is/are repeated at or very near the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases. |
Catastrophe should be avoided else catastrophe will be our end. |
|
|
Dubitatio |
Deliberating with oneself as though in doubt over some matter; asking oneself (or one's hearers) what is the best or appropriate way to approach something. (also, aporia) |
Should I eat this last donut? |
|
|
Dystmesis |
A type of tmesis which adds emphasis by splitting a word and inserting another word between the syllables. |
Unfreakingbelievable! |
|
|
Enallage |
The substitution of grammatically different but semantically equivalent constructions. Sometimes including a grammatical error for emphasis. |
We was robbed! |
|
|
Enjambment |
(in verse) The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza. |
I don't know that You had the inclination. |
|
|
Enthymeme |
An argument in which one premise is not explicitly stated. However, the omitted premise remains understandable even if is not clearly expressed. |
Where there is smoke, there is fire. |
|
|
Epanodos |
1. Repeating the main terms of an argument in the course of presenting it. 2. A figure of speech in which the parts of a sentence or clause are repeated in inverse order. |
O more exceeding love, or law more just?Just law, indeed, but more exceeding love! |
|
|
Euphony |
Opposite of cacophony. Pleasant sounding. |
The sibilant sounds of darkling swells. |
|
|
Hendiatris |
(from the Greek: ἓν διὰ τριῶν, "one through three") is a figure of speech used for emphasis, in which three words are used to express one idea. |
Sex, drugs and rock and roll! |
|
|
Homeoptoton |
A figure of speech consisting in ending the last words of a distinct part of the speech with the same syllable or letter. |
Art thou in povertie? Seeke not principality, but rather how to relaeve thy necessitie. |
|
|
Homeoteleuton |
Repeating the same sound (1) at the end of consecutive words or (2) at the end of words that are in close succession. |
The illustrious, industrious, yet preposterous Gus. |
|
|
Hypallage |
1. Where the syntactic relationship between words is reversed. 2. Where an adjective or participle grammatically qualifies a noun other than the person or thing it is actually describing. |
1. His transfixion's eyes viewed her beauty's face. 2. His coward lips did from their color fly. |
|
|
Hypozeuxis |
A sentence (or a series of sentences) in which each of several clauses has its own verb. Opposite of zeugma. "Zeugma takes verbs out, ~ puts them in." |
I came, I saw, I conquered. |
|
|
Internal rhyme |
Using two or more rhyming words in the same sentence. |
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary... |
|
|
Kenning |
A much-compressed form of metaphor, originally used in Anglo-Saxon and Norse poetry where an object is described in a two-word phrase. |
"whale-road" for sea. |
|
|
Merism |
A rhetorical term for a pair of contrasting words or phrases (near and far, body and soul) used to express totality. Like synecdoche where parts of a subject describe the whole. |
His triumph became the north and south of all tales of power. |
|
|
Paradiastole |
A rhetorical term for a kind of euphemism in which something usually thought of as a vice is treated as a virtue, or (less often) vice versa. |
He's not evil; he's just misguided. |
|
|
Paraprosdokian |
A rhetorical term for an unexpected shift in meaning at the end of a sentence, stanza, series, or short passage. It is often used for comic effect. |
He was a dreamer, a thinker, an idealist, or as his wife would have it, an idiot. |
|
|
Paroemion |
Alliteration taken to an extreme where nearly every word in a sentence begins with the same consonant. Sometimes, simply a synonym for alliteration or for homoeoprophoron. |
Pretty peppy party, huh, pal? |
|
|
Parrhesia |
In classical rhetoric, free, frank, and fearless speech. In ancient Greece, it meant "saying everything" or "speaking one's mind." "An intolerance of [it]," notes Monoson, "marked tyranny." |
Malcolm X. |
|
|
Sine dicendo |
A superfluous statement. One that adds no useful information. |
It's always in the last place you look. |
|
|
Solecism |
A grammatical mistake or intentional use of incorrect grammar in written language and speech. |
But I have promises to keep. |
|
|
Spoonerism |
A verbal error in which a speaker accidentally transposes the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to humorous effect. |
Was I speeding ociffer? |
|
|
Synchysis |
A rather odd form that typically appears in poetry, where words are rearranged such that alternate words should be read together. A B A B |
Golden happy ring girl. A B A B |
|
|
Synesis |
A grammatical construction that is in agreement with the sense instead of the strict syntax. |
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son. |
|
|
Tmesis |
Insertion of content within a compound word. |
How-heinous-ever it be. |
|
|
Zeugma |
A general term describing when one part of speech governs two or more other parts of a sentence, where the second part is poetic (not semantically correct). |
Kill the boys and the luggage. |
|
|
Accismus |
A form of irony in which a person feigns a lack of interest in something that he or she actually desires. |
Oh, you shouldn't have! |
|
|
Anacoenosis |
Asking the opinion or judgement of the judges or audience, usually implying their common interest with the speaker in the matter. |
Don't you see it my way? |
|
|
Anapodoton |
Omission of clause for deliberate effect. |
Now that just goes to... |
|
|
Antistasis |
A rhetorical term for the repetition of a word or phrase in an opposing sense. |
-Boys will be boys. -When you're finished, you're finished. |
|
|
Antonomasia |
The substitution of a title, epithet, or descriptive phrase for a proper name to designate a member of a group or class. |
Hey Hurley, what are you doing? (Lost) |
|
|
Bathos |
When a writer or a poet falls into inconsequential and absurd metaphors, descriptions or ideas in an effort to be increasingly emotional or passionate. |
Melodrama. |
|
|
Auxesis |
A gradual increase in intensity of meaning with words arranged in ascending order of force or importance |
It's a well hit ball, it's a long drive, it might be, it could be, it IS . . . a home run. |
|
|
Categoria |
Direct description of another person's faults |
He's a liar, a cheat and an idler.
|
|
|
Congeries |
A multiplication or heaping together of many words signifying diverse things of like nature. |
It's not just a razor. It's a 3-bladed irritation-minimizing pressure-controlling will-make-your-lady-love-your-face-even-more sensitive shaving machine. |
|
|
Denominatio |
Metonymy |
The White House controls the country. |
|
|
Diathesis |
disposition; articulating silence or mood |
|
|
|
Dirimens copulatio |
A statement (or a series of statements) that balances one idea with a contrasting idea. |
This poor girl shouldn't just tell that guy to go jump in a lake, she ought to slash all four of his car tires . . . |
|
|
Ekphrasis |
A visual object (often a work of art) is vividly described in words. The 'enlivening of inanimate things' with vivid description. |
Ode to a Grecian Urn. |
|
|
Epanorthosis |
In which a speaker corrects or comments on something he or she has just said. |
He's a liar - or, what I mean is, he's not telling the whole truth. |
|
|
Epicrisis |
A circumstance in which a speaker quotes a passage and then comments on it. |
There is a Scottish proverb, 'Fine words butter no parsnips.' We know what is meant by this... |
|
|
Epiplexis |
An interrogative figure of speech in which questions are asked in order to rebuke or reproach rather than to elicit answers. |
Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency? |
|
|
Epithymonexphrasos |
Speak in such a way as to make others wish to join the conversation. |
A good talk that invites discussion. |
|
|
Erotema
|
Rhetorical question. |
Do you see? |
|
|
Erotesis |
Defined as a rhetorical question which implies an answer but does not give or lead us to expect one. Rhetorical question usually anticipating a strong negative response. |
You don't think I like having my nails pulled, do you? |
|
|
Epitrope |
An argumentative strategy by which a speaker either pretends to express agreement with an opponent or encourages an opponent to do something that the speaker actually objects to. |
Go ahead, make my day. |
|
|
Hypocatastasis |
A direct and implied comparison without "like" (simile) or "is" (metaphor). |
Dog! What are you doing here! Cur! |
|
|
Hypophora |
In which a writer raises a question and then immediately provides an answer to that question. |
Why do I like you? You're nose. It's all about your nose. |
|
|
Metalepsis |
Figurative speech in which one thing is referred to another thing that is only slightly related to it. It consists of different levels and worlds, among which unconventional transgression takes place. |
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium? |
|
|
Occupatio |
The rhetorical strategy of calling attention to something by passing over it quickly and refusing to elaborate on its significance. |
Of course, we won't need to talk about his addiction. |
|
|
Occultatio |
Form of ironic denial - a person denies that he or she is going to do something, but the act of denial ironically does the very thing that the person denies he or she is doing. |
I'm not going to talk about this beautiful, four bedroom, three bathroom, open-space concept house or its 2500 square feet of space. |
|
|
Par'hyponoian |
A logical or thought trope, consisting in the replacement of a second part in a phrase or a text, that would have been logically expected from the first part |
The lawyer jumped when he saw the frog. The scum-sucking bottom feeder stared wide-eyed for a moment, and then the frog jumped away. |
|
|
Paralipsis |
A rhetorical device in which an idea is deliberately suggested through a brief treatment of a subject, while most of the significant points are omitted. (usu. for criticism; also, praeteritio) |
Didn't I hear something about past indiscretions? But nevermind. I'm being nosy. |
|
|
Prolepsis |
Extreme form of apophasis. The speaker provides full details, stating or drawing attention to something in the very act of pretending to pass it over. |
We can overlook her harsh voice, her scathing looks, her tendency towards criticism, her sharpened nails, or the hint of bumps on her head that could be viewed as nascent horns. |
|
|
Pathetic fallacy |
Ascribing human characteristics to nature. |
The wind moaned lugubriously through the trees. |
|
|
Periphrasis |
A roundabout way of stating something. Type 1 of Circumlocution. |
So I was thinking maybe if you were interested, and you don't need to say yes right away, but we could imbibe maybe some kind of drink in a public space together... at some point? |
|
|
Ambage |
An indirect and ambiguous way of stating things. Type 2 of circumlocution. |
I may have slipped a sharp object past his spleen while he was sleeping, but who's to say what the results were? |
|
|
Procatalepsis |
Prebuttal in which the speaker or writer gives response to the objection of an opponent in his speech by repeating his objection. |
I know what you’re going to say…’That if they look at it properly they’ll see that it wasn’t our fault. But will they look at it properly? Of course they won’t. |
|
|
Prosthesis |
The addition of an extra sound or syllable to the beginning of a word that helps in making it easier to pronounce |
We shall beweep and bemoan his death. |
|
|
Aphaearesis |
An unaccented or accented syllable is removed from the front of a word to create a new phrase or term. |
The king doth plain of his ailments. |
|
|
Apocope |
The removal of a letter or syllable at the end of a word. |
He may ope his eyes to see the glory around. |
|
|
Sesquipedalianism |
Use of long and obscure words. |
His hermeneutic attention to the categorically irregular vascillations of her pathos was unremitting and inelegant. |
|
|
Snowclone |
A type of cliché or formulaic expression that "can be used in an entirely open array of different jokey variants by lazy journalists and writers." |
Yes, Virginia, there is an economic downturn. |
|
|
Syncatabasis |
The adoption of a level or style suitable for the audience addressed. A kind of condescension. |
W.H.D Rouse translation of The Iliad. |
|
|
Synchoresis |
A figure whereby we grant or yield up something, in order to gain a point, which we could not so well secure without it. |
They are proud, vain, disobedient, I acknowledge it; yet they are our children. |
|
|
Paromologia |
Giving ground to a weaker argument to gain on a stronger one. |
Yes, I may have been a petty thief, but I am no felon. |
|
|
Tricolon diminuens |
Combination of three elements, each decreasing in size. |
He was a monster, a beast, or well, a man anyway. |
|
|
Tricolon crescens |
Combination of three elements, increasing in size. |
Honestly, I was angry, irate, enraged at her lies. |
|
|
Verba ex ore |
Taking words out of someone's mouth. |
|
|
|
Verba volitans |
A word that floats in the air, on which everyone is thinking and is just about to emerge. |
As soon as you say don't think about elephants... |
|
|
Ploce |
A figure of speech in which a word is repeated so as not only to signify the individual thing denoted by it, but also its peculiar attribute or quality. |
I may be from Ohio, but I'm not from Ohio! |
