Literary Terms 2

allusion

indirect or passing reference to event, person, place, artistic work that author assumes reader will understand

anachronism

event, object, custom, person, thing that is out of its natural order of time

analogy

comparison of similar things, often to explain something unfamiliar with something familiar

aphorism

terse statement of principal or truth; maxim

apostrophe

rhetorical device in which speaker addresses dead or absent person; or an inanimate object or abstraction

cliche

any expression that has been used so often it has lost its freshness

epigram

any terse, witty, pointed saying

euphemism

substitution of mild term for one more offensive or hurtful

figurative language

language that contains figures of speech, such as metaphor, simile, personification

hyperbole

exaggeration for sake of emphasis in figure of speech not meant literally

kenning

metaphoric compound word or phrase used as synonym for common noun

litotes

figure of speech by which affirmation is made indirectly by saying its opposite, usually with effect of understatement

malapropism

comic substitution of one word for another similar in sound or quite different in meaning