English (figurative language) Flashcards
Simile
A comparison between two things using the words “like” or “as”
Metaphor
A comparison between two things WITHOUT using “like” or “as” – One thing IS the other thing. May be implied.
Personification
Giving inanimate objects (nonliving) or animals human characteristics.
Anthropomorphism
Giving human characteristics or speech to animals.
Onomatopoeia
A word that is also the sound effect it makes; also animal sounds.
Alitteration
The repetition of the beginning sound in a sentence or poem.
Assonance
Repeated vowel sounds in successive words.
Idiom
A widely used phrase or saying not meant to be taken literally; culturally understood.
Allusion
Referring to an individual, character, historic figure/event, art, Biblical reference, movies, or literature.
Hyperbole
An extreme exaggeration
Oxymoron
When two contradictory or opposite words are juxtaposed.
Synecdoche
When the part represents the whole or the whole represents the part.
Antithesis
Pairing exact opposite or contrasting ideas using parallel grammatical structure.
Euphemism
A polite or nice way to say something not so nice.
Repetition
Repeating words or phrases for emphasis.
Anaphora
When the first word or series of words in a phrase, sentence, or clause is repeated for emphasis.
Epistrophe
When the last word or words are repeated in a set of phrases, sentences or clauses. (The opposite of anaphora.)
Sympolce
A combination of anaphora and epistrophe.
Symbol
An object, person, situation, or action that has a literal meaning but also stands for something else.
Irony
A literary device in which a word or event means something contradictory to its actual meaning.
Verbal Irony
When what a speaker says is the exact opposite of what he means.
Situational Irony
When the opposite of what is expected to happen occurs.
Dramatic Irony
When the audience or reader knows something, but the character does not.
Pun
A play on words–uses words with similar or the same sounds, but different meanings.
