Figurative Language

Oxymoron

a literary device that combines two seemingly contradictory words to form an often thought-provoking concept or idea

Paradox

a self-contradictory statement or scenario that challenges conventional thinking

Metonymy

a figure of speech in which a word or term is used to replace or represent another closely related word or term

Metaphor

a figure of speech that implicitly compares two unrelated things, typically by stating that one thing is another

Hyperbole

an intentional exaggeration or an exaggerated statement that isn't meant to be taken literally

Understatement

a statement that represents something as smaller or less intense, or less important than it really is

Synecdoche

a literary device where a part of something is substituted for a whole, or a whole is substituted for a part

Simile

a rhetorical device used to compare two things (typically using the words “like,” “as,” or “than”)

Personification

a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes