Literary Devices - Sayings Vocab

Adage

a folk saying with a lesson; may also be called a proverb

“a rolling stone gathers no moss”

adage

Aphorism

a tense statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle; can be a memorable summation of an authors point

“God helps them who help themselves”

Aphorism

Epigram

short, witty saying

“fish and visitors smell after three days”

Epigram

Euphemism

a polite or less offensive word/phrase used as a substitute for a more blunt of unpleasant one

“pass away” rather than “died”

Euphemism

Idiom

a common often used expression that doesn’t make sense literally

“it’s raining cats and dogs”

idiom

Malapropism

the misuse of words, especially words that sound like other words; often numerous, such as puns

“progeny” instead of “prodigy”

malapropism

Metonomy

a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another which it is closely related

“the pen is mightier than the sword”

metonomy

Paradox

a seemingly contradictory statement which is actually true on some level

“youth is wasted on the young”

paradox

Synecdoche

figure of speech in which a part of an object is used to represent the whole

“all hands on deck”

Synecdoche