AP Latin Figures of Speech

alliteration

repetition of the same sound, usually initial, in two or more word. This term normally applies to consonants and accented initial vowel.

anaphora

repetition of a word, usually at the beginning of successive clauses or phrases, for emphasis or for pathetic effect. This figure is often accompanied by asyndeton and ellipsis

apostrophe

address of an absent person or an abstraciton, usually for pathetic effect

asyndeton

omission of conjunctions in a closely related series

chiasmus

arrangement of words or phrases in an oppositional, ABBA order, often to emphasize some contrast or create a word-picture

enjambment

the running over of a sentence from one verse or couplet into another so that closely related words fall in different lines

hyperbaton

a figure of syntactic dislocation where phrase or words that belong together are separated

hyperbole

emphatic overstatement of a point or a description

litotes

an understatement for emphasis, usually an assertion of something by denying the opposite

metaphor

an implied comparison, using one word for another that it suggests, usually with a visual effect

metonymy

use of one noun in place of another closely related noun, to avoid common or prosaic words

onomatopoeia

use of words whose sound suggest the sense

personification

a type of imagery by which human traits are attributed to plants, animals, inanimate objects, or abstract ideas

polysyndeton

use of a greater number of conjunctions than usual or necessary, often to emphasize the elements in a series

rhetorical question

a question posed for its rhetorical effect and not requiring a reply or intended to induce a reply

simile

an expressed comparison, introduced by a word such as similis, qualis, or velut

synchesis

arrangement of words in interlocking ABAB word order

tmesis

separation of the parts of a compound word, usually for metrical convenience