LITERARY/ RHETORICAL DEVICES

Ian T. (United States of America)
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. alliteration
    use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word
  2. antithesis
    exact opposite
  3. climax
    the highest point of anything
  4. polysyndeton
    using several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted (as in `he ran and jumped and laughed for joy')
  5. allusion
    passing reference or indirect mention
  6. apophasis
    mentioning something by saying it will not be mentioned
  7. eponym
    the person for whom something is named
  8. metaphor
    a figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity
  9. amplification
    addition of extra material or illustration or clarifying detail
  10. metonymy
    substituting the name of a feature for the name of the thing
  11. rhetorical
    relating to using language effectively
  12. question
    a sentence of inquiry that asks for a reply
  13. anacoluthon
    an abrupt change within a sentence from one syntactic structure to another
  14. aposiopesis
    breaking off in the middle of a sentence
  15. sentential
    of or relating to a sentence
  16. adverb
    a word that modifies something other than a noun
  17. onomatopoeia
    using words that imitate the sound they denote
  18. anadiplosis
    repetition of the final words of a sentence or line at the beginning of the next
  19. apostrophe
    a mark used to indicate the omission of one or more letters
  20. hyperbaton
    reversal of normal word order
  21. oxymoron
    conjoined contradictory terms
  22. analogy
    drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity
  23. appositive
    relating to or being in apposition
  24. hyperbole
    extravagant exaggeration
  25. parallelism
    similarity by virtue of corresponding
  26. simile
    a figure of speech expressing a resemblance between things
  27. anaphora
    repetition of a word or phrase to begin successive clauses
  28. assonance
    the repetition of similar vowels in successive words
  29. symploce
    repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and another at the end of successive clauses, i.e., simultaneous use of anaphora and epistrophe
  30. asyndeton
    omission of conjunctions where they would normally be used
  31. epanalepsis
    repetition after intervening words
  32. parenthesis
    a punctuation mark used to enclose textual material
  33. synecdoche
    using part of something to refer to the whole thing
  34. catachresis
    strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor: `blind mouths')
  35. epistrophe
    repetition of the ends of successive sentences, verses, etc.
  36. litotes
    understatement for rhetorical effect
  37. personification
    attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas
  38. understatement
    something said in a restrained way for ironic contrast
  39. antiphrasis
    the use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal sense
  40. chiasmus
    inversion in the second of two parallel phrases
  41. epithet
    descriptive word or phrase
  42. pleonasm
    using more words than necessary
  43. zeugma
    rhetorical use of a word to govern two or more words
Created on Mon Jun 25 12:50:25 EDT 2012

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