Figures of Speech and Literary Devices

A collection of flashcards defining various literary devices and figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, and phonetic repetitions based on the provided notes.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same beginning consonant sound in nearby words.

Consonance

The repetition of the same consonant sound within or at the end of nearby words.

Assonance

The repetition of the same vowel sound in nearby words.

Idiom

A group of words whose meaning is different from the literal meaning of the individual words. It is an expression understood through common usage rather than by interpreting each word separately.

Simile

Compares two unlike or unrelated persons of things that have something in common using "like, as, resemble or similar to."

Metaphor

Compares two unlike objects without the use of like or as.

Personification

Gives human qualities non-human things, abstract ideas, and inanimate objects as if they were humans.

Irony

Suggests the opposite meaning of the real thing. It is " ridicule in the guise of compliment."

Apostrophe

Address to one that is absent as though he were present, a dead person as if he were alive, an inanimate object or an abstract idea as if it has life.

Hyperbole

Intentional exaggeration.

Allusion

A reference to a person, event, or place, real or fictional, that is outside the current text. It is often a brief or indirect reference to something that the writer assumes the audience will understand.

Onomatopoeia

Uses words whose sounds suggest their sense.

Oxymoron

Uses terms or words that are normally opposite or contradictory in idea.

Synecdoche

Gives a significant part of representing the whole.

Euphemism

A less offensive synonym; a word or phrase used in place of a term that might be considered too direct, harsh, unpleasant or offensive.