Vocabulary Literary Terms

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

noun

noun:allegory; plural noun:allegories

• a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
• a symbol.

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old Frenchallegorie, via Latin from Greekallēgoria, fromallos‘other’ +-
agoria‘speaking.’

Question 2

Alliteration

Answer 2

noun

noun: alliteration; plural noun:alliterations
* the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Origin:
early 17th century: from medieval Latinalliteratio(n-), from Latinad-(expressing addition) +littera‘letter.’

Question 3

Allusion

Answer 3

noun

noun:allusion; plural noun:allusions

*an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
“an allusion toShakespeare”

synonyms: reference to
* the practice of making allusions, especially as an artistic device.

Origin:
mid 16th century (denoting a pun, metaphor, or parable): from French, or from late Latinallusio(n-), from the verballudere

Question 4

Ambiguity

Answer 4

noun

noun:ambiguity; plural noun:ambiguities

• the quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness.
  synonyms: vagueness,obscurity,abstruseness,doubtfulness,uncertainty

Origin:
late Middle English: from Old Frenchambiguiteor Latinambiguitas, fromambiguus‘doubtful’

Question 5

Analogy

Answer 5

noun

noun: analogy; plural noun:analogies
* a comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarifications
* a correspondence or partial similarity.
* a thing that is comparable to something else in significant respects.
synonyms: similarity,parallel,correspondence,likeness,resemblance,correlation,relation,kinship,equivalence,similitude,metaphor,simile

Origin:
late Middle English (in the sense ‘appropriateness, correspondence’): from Frenchanalogie, Latinanalogia‘proportion,’ from Greek, fromanalogos‘proportionate.’

Question 6

Antithesis

Answer 6

noun

noun: antithesis; plural noun:antitheses
* a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.

Ex:”love is the antithesis of selfishness”

• a contrast or opposition between two things.
  synonyms: (complete) opposite,converse,contrary,reverse,inverse,obverse,

Origin:
late Middle English (originally denoting the substitution of one grammatical case for another): from late Latin, from Greekantitithenai‘set against,’ fromanti‘against’ +tithenai‘to place.’ The earliest current sense, denoting a rhetorical or literary device, dates from the early 16th century.

Question 7

Colloquial

Answer 7

adjective

adjective: colloquial
* (of language) used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary.
synonyms: informal,conversational,everyday,nonliterary
antonyms: formal

Origin:
mid 18th century: from Latincolloquium‘conversation’ +-al.

Question 8

Connotation

Answer 8

noun

noun: connotation; plural noun:connotations
* an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Ex:”the word “discipline” has unhappy connotations of punishment and repression”

Origin:
mid 16th century: from medieval Latinconnotatio(n-), fromconnotare‘mark in addition’ (seeconnote).

Question 9

Denotation

Answer 9

noun

noun:denotation; plural noun:denotations

the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

Origins:
1530s, “indication,” from Late Latindenotationem(nominativedenotatio), noun of action from past participle stem ofdenotare

Question 10

Diction

Answer 10

noun

noun: diction
1. the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

“Wordsworth campaigned against exaggerated poetic diction”

synonyms:phraseology,phrasing,turn of phrase,wording,language,usage,vocabulary,terminology,expressions,idioms

“her diction was archaic”

2.the style of enunciation in speaking or singing

Origin:
mid 16th century (denoting a word or phrase): from Latindictio(n-), fromdicere‘to say.’

Question 11

Extended Metaphor

Answer 11

Extended metaphor (n.)

*Anextended metaphoris when an author uses ametaphorthroughout a long passage or even an entire poem. An author would use anextended metaphorto create a clearer comparisonbetweenthe two items.

Origin:
late 15c., from Middle Frenchmetaphore(Old Frenchmetafore, 13c.), and directly from Latinmetaphora, from Greekmetaphora”a transfer,”

Question 12

Figurative Language

Answer 12

figurative (adj.)
Origin:
late 14c., “emblematical,” from Old Frenchfiguratif”metaphorical,” from Late Latinfigurativus”figurative” (of speech), fromfigurat-, past participle stem of Latinfigurare

*Figurative languageislanguage that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation.

Question 13

Figure of Speech

Answer 13

noun

noun: figure of speech; plural noun:figures of speech
* a word or phrase used in a non-literal sense for rhetorical or vivid effect.

Origin:
c. 1200, “numeral;” mid-13c., “visible appearance of a person;” late 14c., “visible and tangible form of anything,” from Old Frenchfigure”shape, body; form of a word; figure of speech; symbol, allegory” (10c), from Latinfigura”a shape, form, figure; quality, kind, style; figure of speech,” in Late Latin

Question 14

Genre

Answer 14

noun

noun: genre; plural noun:genres
* a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.
synonyms: category,class,classification,group,set,list

Origin:
early 19th century: French, literally ‘a kind

Question 15

Imagery

Answer 15

noun

noun: imagery
* visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.

Origin:
Middle English (in the senses ‘statuary, carved images collectively’): from Old Frenchimagerie, fromimager‘make an image,’ fromimage

Question 16

Inference

Answer 16

noun

noun: inference; plural noun:inferences
* a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning.
synonyms: deduction,conclusion,reasoning,conjecture

Origin:
late 16th century: from medieval Latininferentia, frominferent-‘bringing in,’ from the verbinferre

Question 17

Irony/Ironical

Answer 17

noun

noun: irony
* the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

““Don’t go overboard with the gratitude,” he rejoined with heavy irony”

synonyms:sarcasm,causticity,cynicism,mockery,satire,sardonicism

“that note of irony in her voice”

antonyms: sincerity
* a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.

plural noun:ironies

“a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.
-noun:dramatic irony”

• noun”Verbal ironyin which a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.”
• noun”* Situational irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.*”

Origin:
early 16th century (also denoting Socratic irony): via Latin from Greekeirōneia‘simulated ignorance,’ fromeirōn‘dissembler.’

Question 18

Personification

Answer 18

noun

noun: personification
* the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
* a figure intended to represent an abstract quality.

plural noun:personifications

a person, animal, or object regarded as representing or embodying a quality, concept, or thing.

“he wastheverypersonification ofBritish pluck and diplomacy”

Origin:
early 18th century: from Frenchpersonnifier, frompersonne‘person.’

Question 19

Point of View

Answer 19

noun

noun: point of view; plural noun:points of view
* a particular attitude or way of considering a matter.
synonyms: opinion,view,belief,
* (in fictional writing) the narrator’s position in relation to the story being told.

Origin:
“position from which a thing is viewed,” 1727, translating Frenchpoint de vue, a loan-translation of Latinpunctum visus. Figurative use is from 1760. The Latin phrase was translated into German asGesichtspunkt.

Question 20

Prose

Answer 20

noun

noun: prose; plural noun:proses
1. written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.

“a short story in prose”

2.plain or dull writing, discourse, or expression

Origin:
Middle English: via Old French from Latinprosa (oratio) ‘straightforward (discourse),’ feminine ofprosus, earlierprorsus‘direct.’

Question 21

Repetition

Answer 21

noun

noun: repetition; plural noun:repetitions
* the action of repeating something that has already been said or written.

Origin:
late Middle English: from Old Frenchrepeticionor Latinrepetitio(n-), fromrepetere

Question 22

Satire

Answer 22

noun

noun: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

Origin:
early 16th century: from French, or from Latinsatira, later form ofsatura‘poetic medley.’

Question 23

Semantics

Answer 23

noun

noun: semantics
* the branch of linguistics(study of language and it’s structure) and logic concerned with meaning. There are a number of branches and subbranches of semantics, includingformal semantics, which studies the logical aspects of meaning, such as sense, reference, implication, and logical form,lexical semantics, which studies word meanings and word relations, andconceptual semantics, which studies the cognitive structure of meaning.
* the meaning of a word, phrase, sentence, or text.

Origin:
“science of meaning in language,” 1893, from Frenchsémantique(1883); seesemantic(also see-ics). Replacedsemasiology(1847), from GermanSemasiologie(1829), from Greeksemasia”signification, meaning.”

Question 24

Symbolism

Answer 24

noun

noun: symbolism
* the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.
* symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts.

Origin:
1650s, “practice of representing things with symbols,” fromsymbol+-ism. Applied to the arts by 1866; attested from 1892 as a movement in French literature, from Frenchsymbolisme

Question 25

Theme

Answer 25

noun

noun: theme; plural noun:themes
1. the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person’s thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic.
synonyms: subject,topic,subject matter,matter,thesis,message

Origin:
Middle English: via Old French from Latinthema, from Greek, literally ‘proposition’; related totithenai‘to set or place.’

Question 26

Thesis

Answer 26

noun

noun: thesis; plural noun:theses
1. (main claim)a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved.
synonyms: theory,contention,argument,line of argument,proposal,proposition,idea,claim,premise,assumption,hypothesis,postulation,supposition

Origin:
late Middle English (sense 3): via late Latin from Greek, literally ‘placing, a proposition,’ from the root oftithenai‘to place.’

Question 27

Tone

Answer 27

noun

noun: tone; plural noun:tones
1. *the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc.
synonyms: mood,air,spirit,feel,sound,flavor,note,attitude

Origin:
Middle English: from Old Frenchton, from Latintonus, from Greektonos‘tension, tone,’ fromteinein‘to stretch.’

Question 28

Transition

Answer 28

noun

noun: transition; plural noun:transitions
2. the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.
1. *a passage in a piece of writing that smoothly connects two topics or sections to each other.

Origin:
mid 16th century: from French, or from Latintransitio(n-), fromtransire‘go across.’

Question 29

Voice

Answer 29

noun

noun: voice; plural noun:voices
* a particular opinion or attitude expressed.
synonyms: opinion,view,
* the distinctive tone or style of a literary work or author.

Origin:
Middle English: from Old Frenchvois, from Latinvox,voc-.