Summer Vocab Flashcards
Allegory
a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
Alliteration
the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
Allusion
an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
Ambiguity
the quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness.
Analogy
a comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.
Antithesis
a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.
Colloquial
(of language) used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary.
Connotation
an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Denotation
the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.
Diction
the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.
Extended Metaphor
refers to a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph, or lines in a poem
Figurative Language
figurative language uses figures of speech to be more effective, persuasive, and impactful.
Figure of Speech
a word or phrase used in a non-literal sense for rhetorical or vivid effect.
Genre
a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.
Imagery
visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.
Inference/Infer
an idea or conclusion that’s drawn from evidence and reasoning.
Verbal Irony
occurs when a speaker’s intention is the opposite of what he or she is saying.
Situational Irony
occurs when the actual result of a situation is totally different from what you’d expect the result to be.
Dramatic Irony
occurs when the audience knows a key piece of information that a character in a play, movie or novel does not.
Personification
the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
Point of View
the position from which something or someone is observed.
Prose
written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.
Repetition
the action of repeating something that has already been said or written.
Satire
the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
