Rhetorical Terms Vocab - Chapter #2

Allusion

A reference to a person, place, or event (outside the text) meant to create an effect or enhance the meaning of an idea.

Analogy

A comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things.

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

Anecdote

A brief narrative often used to illustrate an idea or make a point.

Antimetabole

The repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed order.

Antithesis

A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences.

Aphorism

A short, pithy statement of a generally-accepted truth or sentiment.

Apostrophe

An utterance that addresses a person not present or a personified thing.

Clause

A structural element of a sentence, consisting of a grammatical subject and a predicate.

Dramatic irony

A circumstance in which the audience or reader knows more about a situation than a character.

Epigram

 A concise but ingenious, witty, and thoughtful statement

Epistrophe

A stylistic device. The repetition of words or phrases at the ends of the clauses or sentences.

Euphemism

A mild or less negative usage for a harsh or blunt term.

Irony

A mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm.

Metonymy

A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated.

Paradox

A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true.

Parallel structure

The structure required for expressing two or more grammatical elements of equal rank: coordinate ideas, compared and contrasted ideas, and correlative constructions.

Polysyndeton

The repetition of conjunctions in close succession.

Predicate

The part of the sentence that is not the grammatical subject. It often says something about the subject.

Rebuttal or Refutation

The part of discourse wherein opposing arguments are anticipated and answered.

Symbolism

The use of one object to evoke ideas and associations not literally part of the original object.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part (days for life. When the name of a material stands for the thing itself, as in pigskin for football, that, too, is synecdoche.

Thesis/claim

The main idea of a piece of discourse.

Verbal irony

A discrepancy between the true meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the written or spoken words.