Randallstown AP lit terms

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. allegory
    a short moral story
  2. alliteration
    use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word
  3. allusion
    passing reference or indirect mention
  4. ambiguity
    unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning
  5. anachronism
    locating something at a time when it couldn't have existed
  6. analogy
    drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity
  7. anaphora
    repetition of a word or phrase to begin successive clauses
  8. antecedent
    a preceding occurrence or cause or event
  9. antithesis
    exact opposite
  10. aphorism
    a short pithy instructive saying
  11. apostrophe
    a mark used to indicate the omission of one or more letters
  12. attitude
    a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings
  13. colloquialism
    an expression that seeks to imitate informal speech
  14. connotation
    an idea that is implied or suggested
  15. denotation
    the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression
  16. detail
    a small part considered separately from the whole
  17. diction
    the manner in which something is expressed in words
  18. didactic
    instructive, especially excessively
  19. euphemism
    an inoffensive expression substituted for an offensive one
  20. hyperbole
    extravagant exaggeration
  21. image
    a visual representation produced on a surface
  22. irony
    incongruity between what might be expected and what occurs
  23. dramatic
    characteristic of a stage performance
  24. verbal
    of or relating to or formed from words in general
  25. jargon
    technical terminology characteristic of a particular subject
  26. juxtaposition
    the act of positioning close together
  27. loose sentence
    a complex sentence in which the main clause comes first and the subordinate clause follows
  28. metaphor
    a figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity
  29. metonymy
    substituting the name of a feature for the name of the thing
  30. mood
    a characteristic state of feeling
  31. onomatopoeia
    using words that imitate the sound they denote
  32. oxymoron
    conjoined contradictory terms
  33. parable
    a short moral story
  34. parallelism
    similarity by virtue of corresponding
  35. parody
    a composition that imitates or misrepresents a style
  36. paradox
    a statement that contradicts itself
  37. pedantic
    marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning
  38. periodic sentence
    a complex sentence in which the main clause comes last and is preceded by the subordinate clause
  39. personification
    attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas
  40. prose
    ordinary writing as distinguished from verse
  41. repetition
    the act of doing or performing again
  42. rhetoric
    study of the technique for using language effectively
  43. ethos
    the distinctive spirit of a culture or an era
  44. pathos
    a quality that arouses emotions, especially pity or sorrow
  45. sarcasm
    witty language used to convey insults or scorn
  46. satire
    witty language used to convey insults or scorn
  47. simile
    a figure of speech expressing a resemblance between things
  48. stylistic
    of or relating to style (especially in the use of language)
  49. synecdoche
    using part of something to refer to the whole thing
  50. syntax
    the study of the rules for forming admissible sentences
  51. tone
    the distinctive property of a complex sound
  52. understatement
    something said in a restrained way for ironic contrast
  53. wit
    mental ability
Created on Mon Feb 29 16:11:17 EST 2016

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