Words, Sounds, and Sentences Flashcards
alliteration
The repetition of sounds in a sequence of words.
Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
antonym
Words opposite in meaning.
Ex: “No” and “Yes”
assonance
Alliteration with vowel sounds.
Ex: I was fated for a day in the cave.
cacophony
Harsh, unpleasant, or discordant sounds.
connotation
Implied meaning of a word or words.
consonance
Alliteration with consonant sounds.
Ex: “blade” and “blood”
denotation
Literal meaning of a word or words.
diction
Word choice.
euphony
Pleasing, harmonious sounds.
homonym
Words that sound or are spelled the same, but have different meanings.
Ex: there, their, they’re
iambic pentameter
A metrical foot in poetry that consists of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable, ten syllables per line.
Ex: Downward/ to dark/ness, on/ extend/ed wings.
malapropism
Misuse of a word, in which a word similar in sound but different in meaning is used in place of the correct word, often to ludicrous effect.
Ex: “By no means wish a daughter of mine to be a progeny of learning.” “Progeny” should be “prodigy.”
meter
The regular rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse.
onomatopoeia
Wording that seems to signify meaning through sound effects.
Ex: “Moo”; “Purr”; “Quack”
oxymoron
A rhetorical figure that juxtaposes two opposite or apparently contradictory words to present an emphatic and dramatic paradox.
Ex: The living dead
