AP Language Rhetorical Devices and Terms

Vocabulary flashcards defining key literary and rhetorical terms, their purposes, and stylistic effects.

Allegory

The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning, usually dealing with a moral truth or a generalization about human existence.

Alliteration

The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonants in two or more neighboring words, used to reinforce meaning, unify ideas, supply a musical sound, and/or echo the sense of the passage.

Allusion

A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art, used to lend authority or make a memorable association.

Ambiguity

The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.

Analogy

A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them, used to explain an unfamiliar idea by associating it with something familiar, or to make writing more vivid and engaging.

Anaphora

A device of repetition in which the same expression (word or words) is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences to create a powerful effect and reinforce an idea.

Anecdote

A short narrative detailing particulars of an interesting episode or event, most frequently an incident in a person's life, used to provide a concrete example or humanize an abstract concept.

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

Antithesis

A figure of balance in which two contrasting ideas are intentionally juxtaposed, usually through parallel structure, contrasting opposing ideas in adjacent phrases, clauses, or sentences.

Aphorism

A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle, often functioning as a memorable summation of the author's point.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction (such as liberty or love) that cannot answer, used to display intense emotion.

Asyndeton

A device that consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses, giving the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity and creating an emphatic, extemporaneous account.

Atmosphere

The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of described objects, which frequently foreshadows events.

Chiasmus

A figure of speech based on the Greek letter chi (X) in which two successive phrases or clauses are parallel in syntax, but reverse the order of the analogous words.