Figures of Speech Flashcards
Alliteration
Repetition of similar sounds usually consonants at the beginning of consecutive words or words in close proximity
Apostrophe
Direct address to absent or dead person or to an object quality or idea
Assonance
Repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sequence of consecutive words or words and close proximity: “All day the wind breathes low and with mellower tone”
Cacophony
Clash of discordant were harsh sounds within a sentence or phrase
Chiasmus
Two phrases in which the syntax is the same but the placement of words is reversed
Cliché
An expression used so frequently it has lost it’s expressive power
Colloquialism
In formal expression or slaying especially in the context of more formal text
Euphemism
Use of decorous language to express vulgar or unpleasant ideas
Euphony
Pleasing arrangement of sounds
Hyperbole
Excessive overstatement or conscious exaggeration of fact
Idiom
Common expression that has acquired a meaning different from its literal meaning
litotes
A form of understatement in which a statement is affirmed by negating its opposite: “he is not unfriendly “
Metaphor
Direct comparison: “life is but a walking shadow, a poor player”
Mixed metaphor
A combination of direct comparisons that produces a confused or contradictory image: “a stitch in time gathers no moss”
Metonymy
Substitution of one term for another generally associated term
Onomatopoeia
Words that sound like what they are: “pop, hiss, and boing “
Oxymoron
Association of two directly contradictory terms in a single expression
Paradox
A statement which seems absurd or contradictory on the surface but, on closer examination, expresses a deeper truth
Paralipsis
The technique of drawing attention to something by claiming not to mention it
Parallelism
Use of similar grammatical structures, word order in two sentences or phrases, lines of poetry, or elements in a narrative to suggest a comparison or contrast
Personification
use of human characteristics to describe animals, things, or ideas
Pun
A play on words that exploits the similarity in sound between two words with distinctly different meanings
Rhetorical question
A question designed not to elicit a response, But instead to make an impact or call attention to something
Sarcasm
A simple form of verbal irony designed to wound, used as expression of scorn
Simile
And indirect comparison between two things, using like or as
Synesthesia
Confusion of the senses, using one kind of sensory experience to describe another
Synecdoche
Using a part to refer to the whole, as a form of metonymy
