Rhetorical Devices and Their Definitions

This set of flashcards covers important rhetorical devices, their definitions, and examples to aid in understanding and memorization.

Allusion

This rhetorical device is a reference, explicit or implicit, to something in previous literature or history (usually historical, biblical, or cultural)

Colloquial

characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech

Connotation

the set of associations implied by a word in addition to its literal meaning

Denotation

the literal meaning of a word, the dictionary definition

Didactic

tone; instructional, designed to teach an ethical, moral, or religious lesson

Hyperbole

deliberate exaggeration of a person, thing, quality, event to emphasize a point external to the object of exaggeration

Litotes

Deliberate understatement, especially when expressing a thought by denying its opposite

Metonymy

a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated

Personification

represents abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities, including physical, emotional, and spiritual; the application of human attributes or abilities to nonhuman entities.

Synecdoche

the rhetorical substitution of a part for the whole

Example of Allusion

Martin Luther King Jr.'s reference to Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in his 'I Have a Dream' speech.

Example of Colloquial

Barack Obama’s use of the term 'woke' to connect with his audience.

Example of Connotation

Brent Staples's use of the term 'victim' to highlight racial biases.

Example of Denotation

Emma Watson's definition of feminism as equal rights and opportunities for both genders.

Example of Didactic

Mark Twain's 'Advice to Youth,' which instructs the youth on obedience.

Example of Hyperbole

John F. Kennedy's description of a group of Nobel Prize winners as an extraordinary collection.

Example of Litotes

Abigail Adams's understated comment on her husband’s kindness to women.

Example of Metonymy

Margaret Thatcher referring to the Soviet Union as 'Moscow's evil empire'.

Example of Personification

Dr. King's use of 'manacles' to symbolize segregation's grip on Black Americans.

Example of Synecdoche

Henry Petroski referring to parents as 'beams and girders' emphasizing their support role.