AP Lang Vocabulary Terms

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Allegory

A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning.

Alliteration

A device that uses the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, character, place, or event that a writer uses to deepen a reader's understanding.

Ambiguity

A device that uses the quality of being open to more than one interpretation or meaning.

Ambivalence

Simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings towards something or someone.

Analogy

A comparison between two unlike things that explains their relation to teach other and emphasizes similarities.

Anaphora

A device that uses the repetition of words or phrases at the start of sentences.

Antithesis

A literary device that places opposite words, ideas, or qualities parallel to strengthen an argument.

Aphorism

A device that is a concise phrase used to describe a customary truth about life.

Assonance

A device that uses the repetition of vowel sounds, usually stressed, in words that are close together to create rhythm.

Asyndeton

Absence of conjunctions between parts of a sentence.

Chiasmus

A device that repeats grammar constructions or words and phrases in reverse order.

Claim

An assertion that something is the case; a thesis that guides writing and declares the essay’s focus.

Clause

A unit of grammatical organization; can be independent or dependent.

Colloquialism

Not formal diction, used in familiar conversations and not meant to be taken literally.

Connotation

The implied emotional meaning of a word beyond its literal definition.

Denotation

The literal meaning of a word.

Diction

Word choice that influences tone and style.

Didactic

A work such as a novel or tale that is intended to teach, especially when teaching moral instructions as an ulterior motive.

Euphemism

A device that uses the substitution of an unpleasant or offensive phrase for something more agreeable.

Evidence

The available body of facts or info indicating whether a belief or claim is true.

Hyperbole

An extravagant exaggeration used to emphasize a point.

Idiom

An expression whose meaning is not literal, with no underlying message.

Imagery

A device that uses vivid descriptions that engage all five senses.

Imply

To express, suggest, or insinuate something without a direct statement.

Infer

To deduce or conclude from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements.

Invective

Insulting, abusive, or highly critical language that is always negative.

Irony

the use of words to express something by saying its opposite

Juxtaposition

a device that places two elements close together to create a contrasting effect and to compare

Litotes (you won’t be sorry)

An understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary.

Loose sentence

A sentence in which the independent clause comes first and continues with more modifiers and subordinate clauses.

Metaphor

A comparison not using like or as to compare very unlike objects and suggest a relationship.

Motif

A device with a noticeable and important recurring theme or main idea

Onomatopoeia

A word formed from a sound something makes, sound descriptors.

Oxymoron

A device that uses two words with opposite meanings in conjunction to express something.

Paradox

A device that is a self-contradictory statement that provokes deep thought.

Parallelism

A device that uses the repetition of grammatical structure in a piece of writing.

Parody

A funny or exaggerated copy of a book, song, or movie that mimics the original for entertainment and to poke fun, not meant to be serious

Pedantic

Giving too much attention to formal rules or small and irrelevant details as a form of diction.

Periodic sentence

A sentence that leaves the independent clause for last to create suspense.

Personification

A device that attributes human characteristics to something nonhuman.

Polysyndeton

Multiple coordinating conjunctions used together to emphasize.

Repetition

The repeating of a word or phrase two or more times.

Sarcasm

The use of irony to mock or convey contempt.

Satire

A type of humor that makes fun of people, society, or politics to make a point about problems.

Syllogism

A device using two logical statements to make a sometimes wrong conclusion to argue something.

Symbol

A thing that represents or stands for something else, primarily when a material object represents an abstract concept.

Syntax

Sentence structure; a set of rules and principles in a language that dictates how phrases and clauses are arranged into sentences.

Warrant

the assumption on which the claim and the evidence depend