Literary Devices and Rhetorical Fallacies: Definitions and Examples

ad hominem

is Latin for "against the man," and refers to the logical fallacy (error) of arguing that someone is incorrect because they are unattractive, immoral, weird, and so on.

allegory

a story within a story. It has a "surface story" and another story hidden underneath.

alliteration

In alliteration, words that begin with the same sound are placed close together.

allusion

is basically a reference to something else. It's when a writer mentions some other work or refers to an earlier part of the current work.

ambiguity

is an idea or situation that can be understood in multiple ways.

analogy

is a literary technique in which two unrelated objects are compared for their shared qualities.

anaphora

is when a certain word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of clauses or sentences that follow each other.

anecdote

is a very short story that is significant to the topic at hand; usually adding personal knowledge or experience to the topic.

antithesis

is the opposite of a statement, concept, or idea.

aphorism

is a short statement of a general truth, insight, or good advice.

archetype

is an idea, symbol, pattern, or character type, in a story.

assonance

is the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within words, phrases, or sentences.

caesura

refers to a break or pause in the middle of a line of verse.

catharsis

Catharsis, meaning "cleansing" in Greek, refers to a literary theory that cleansing our emotions was the purpose of a tragedy. Catharsis applies to any form of art or media that makes us feel strong negative emotions. Afterward, we can walk out of the theater feeling better. Catharsis is roughly synonymous with the idea of "blowing off steam."

cliché

A cliché (pronounced 'klee-SHAY') is a saying, image, or idea which has been used so much that it sounds terribly uncreative.

connotation

A connotation is a feeling or idea that a word has, in addition to its literal or main meaning (the denotation) - basically, the emotions or meanings that are implied.

consonance

Consonance (pronounced 'CON-so-nance') is the repetition of a consonant sound in a line or sentence, creating rhythm. Alliteration is consonance limited to just sounds at the beginning of words.

conundrum

A conundrum (pronounced ko-NUN-drum) is a difficult problem, one that is impossible or almost impossible to solve - anything from moral dilemmas to riddles.

deus ex machina

(DAY-us ex MACK-in-uh) is Latin for "a god from the machine." It's when some new character, force, or event suddenly shows up to solve a seemingly hopeless situation. The effect is usually unexpected, and it's often disappointing for audiences.

diction

Diction (pronounced DIK-shun) refers to word choice and phrasing in any written or spoken text.

double entendre

A double entendre is much like what it sounds like—a double meaning or interpretation for a word, phrase, or figure of speech. Usually, the first meaning is straightforward, but another meaning is slightly inappropriate or risqué.

dramatic irony

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something the characters don't — so the characters might get an unexpected outcome, but for the audience, it's not unexpected at all.

equivocation

Commonly known as "doublespeak," equivocation (pronounced ee-QUIV-oh-KAY-shun) is the use of vague language to hide one's meaning or to avoid committing to a point of view.

ethos

one of the three basic argumentative appeals, in which a speaker establishes their credibility and knowledge, as well as their good moral character.

euphemism

(yoo-fuh-miz-uhm) polite, mild phrases which substitute for more unpleasant ways of saying something sad or uncomfortable.

exposition

The exposition of a story is the first paragraph or paragraphs in which the characters, setting (time and place), and basic information is introduced.

fallacy

a mistaken belief, especially one based on an unsound argument.

hamartia

Hamartia is the tragic flaw or error that reverses a protagonist's fortune from good to bad.

homophone

(pronounced HAH-muh-fone) is Greek for "same sound." It's when two or more words have the same sound, but different meanings.

hubris

means "excessive pride" or "overconfidence." It's when somebody gets so confident that they start to believe they're invincible.

hyperbole

is a figure of speech in which an author or speaker purposely and obviously exaggerates to an extreme.

idiom

a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning different from the words used.

imagery

Language used by poets, novelists, and other writers to create images in the mind of the reader.

inference

An inference is the process of drawing a conclusion from supporting evidence.

innuendo

is when you say something which is polite and innocent on the surface, but indirectly hints at an insult or rude comment.

irony

is when there are two contradicting meanings of the same situation, event, image, sentence, phrase, or story.

juxtaposition

(pronounced juhk-stuh-puh--zish--uh-n) is the placement of two or more things side by side, often in order to bring out their differences.

logos

or the appeal to logic, means to appeal to the audience's sense of reason or logic.

motif

A motif is a symbolic image or idea that appears frequently in a story. Motifs can be symbols, sounds, actions, ideas, or words.

nemesis

is an enemy, often a villain.

onomatopoeia

refers to words whose pronunciations imitate the sounds they describe.

oxymoron

An oxymoron is a figure of speech that puts together opposite elements.

paradox

is a statement that contradicts itself, or that must be both true and untrue at the same time.

parallelism

also known as parallel structure, is when phrases in a sentence have similar or the same grammatical structure.

parody

is a work that's created by imitating an existing original work in order to make fun of or comment on an aspect of the original.

pathos

One of the three basic argumentative appeals, which appeals to emotion.

personification

is a kind of metaphor in which you describe an inanimate object, abstract thing, or non-human animal in human terms.

situational irony

is the irony of something happening that is very different from what was expected.

soliloquy

is a kind of monologue or an extended speech by one character.

stereotype

Stereotyping is assuming that 'they're all alike.' It's looking at a whole group of people and assuming that they all share certain qualities.

synecdoche

is a figure of speech that allows a part to stand for a whole or for a whole to stand for a part.

trope

The word trope can refer to any type of figure of speech, theme, image, character, or plot element that is used many times.

understatement

Understatement is when a writer presents a situation or thing as if it is less important or serious than it is in reality.

vernacular

is everyday speech. It's just the way people talk in day-to-day life.