Figurative Language terms (definitions)

Pathos

An appeal to emotions in rhetoric or persuasive writing

Ethos

An appeal to credibility or character in rhetoric

Logos

An appeal to logic or reason in rhetoric

Anaphora

The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or lines (type of parallelism)

Synecdoche

A figure of speech where a part represents the whole or vice versa

Metonymy

A figure of speech where something is referred to by a related concept or object

Epistrophie

repetition at the end of a line (poem, text etc…) (type of parallelysm)

Idiom

A phrase or expression that has a meaning different from the literal meaning of the words

Onomatopea

A word that imitates the sound it represents

Metaphor

A figure of speech that makes a direct comparison between two unrelated things by stating one is the other

Simile

A figure of speech comparing two different things using “as” or “like”

Personification

Attributing human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or ideas

Allusion

An indirect reference to a well-known person, place, event, or work of art

Imagery

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses and creates mental images

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonante sounds at the beginning of words in sentence or line