Figures of speech Flashcards
The repetition of an initial consonant sound
Alliteration
The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.
Anaphora
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.
Antithesis
Directly addressing a nonexistent person or an inanimate object as though it were a living being.
Apostrophe
Similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words
Assonance
A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.
Chiasmus
The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit.
Euphemism
An extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
Hyperbole
The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning
Irony
An understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.
Litotes
An implied comparison between two dissimilar things that have something in common
Metaphor
A word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated; also, the rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it.
Metonymy
The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
Onomatopoeia
Incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side
Oxymoron
A statement that appears to contradict itself.
Paradox
