Terms : Hide Images
| 13398286354 | Epanalepsis example "Nothing is worse than doing nothing." | The reason for this example is because | 0 | |
| 13252351080 | alliteration | the repetition of an initial consonant sound in successive words |  | 1 |
| 13252351081 | allusion | a reference to a well knows person, place, event, literary work, or work of art |  | 2 |
| 13252351082 | anadiplosis | a figure of repetition that occurs when the last word or terms in one sentences, clause,or phrase is/are repeated at or the very near the beginning of the next sentence, clause, or phrase | 3 | |
| 13252351083 | analogy | an explicit comparison between two things for the purpose of furthering a line of reasoning or drawing an influence |  | 4 |
| 13252351084 | anaphora | the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrase, clauses or sentences |  | 5 |
| 13252351085 | anastrope | inversion of the natural or usual word order | 6 | |
| 13252351086 | anesis | a figure of addition that occurs when a concluding sentence, clause, or phrase is added to a statement which purposely diminishes that effect of what has been previously stated | 7 | |
| 13252351087 | antanaclasis | a rhetorical device in which a phrase or word is repeatedly used but, the meaning of a word changes in each case | 8 | |
| 13252351088 | antanagoge | placing a good point or benefit next to a fault criticism, or problem in order to reduce the impact or significance of the negative point | 9 | |
| 13252351089 | antithesis | a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast or ideas is expressed by parallelism of word that are the opposite or, or strongly contrasted with,each other | 10 | |
| 13252351090 | alliteration example -"The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. | In the above lines we see alliteration ("b", "f" and "s") in the phrases "breeze blew", "foam flew", "furrow followed", and "silent sea". | 11 | |
| 13252351091 | allusion example -"The two knitting women increase his anxiety by gazing at him and all the other sailors with knowing unconcern. Their eerie looks suggest that they know what will happen (the men dying), yet don't care" | The thread they knit represents human life. The two women knitting black wool foreshadows Marlow's horrific journey in the "Dark Continent". | 12 | |
| 13252351092 | anadiplosis example -"What I present here is what I remember of the letter, and what I remember of the letter I remember verbatim (including that awful French)." | Just observe the beautiful use of the phrase, "what I remember of the letter," as an anadiplosis. The writer clearly wants his readers to focus on what he is saying and repeating in these lines. The message is further enhanced by the use of the word "verbatim." | 13 | |
| 13252351093 | analogy example -Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. | There are a couple examples of analogy in just this short excerpt from Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." The concept of "blinding sight" is a juxtaposition of seemingly opposite terms, but hints at the metaphorical understanding of how the end of life is both blinding and gives much clarity. The second line of this excerpt contains a simile comparing "blind eyes" and "meteors" and how they similarly "blaze." The entire poem functions as an analogy, as "the dying of the light" is actually a metaphor for death. | 14 | |
| 13252351094 | anaphora example -"Five years have passed; Five summers, with the length of Five long winters! and again I hear these waters..." Wordsworth also employs the technique of anaphora in this piece. The repetition of the word "five" at the beginning of each line gives melody to the lines, which matches well with its nostalgic tone. | Wordsworth also employs the technique of anaphora in this piece. The repetition of the word "five" at the beginning of each line gives melody to the lines, which matches well with its nostalgic tone. | 15 | |
| 13252351095 | anastrope example -"Strong in the force, you are." | You can read the phrase both ways | 16 | |
| 13252351096 | anesis example -Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. | A figure of addition that occurs when a concluding sentence, clause, or phrase is added to a statement which purposely diminishes the effect of what has been previously stated. | 17 | |
| 13252351097 | antanaclasis example -"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." | Here, the poet uses antanaclasis in the last two lines of the poem. The first use of the word "sleep" means nocturnal rest, and in the last line it has the meaning of death. This device is helping to draw the readers' attention. | 18 | |
| 13252351098 | antanagoge Ex. "She died, and her enemies cried 'How glad we were to know her.'" | This is antanagoge because | 19 | |
| 13252351099 | antithesis Ex. "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav'n." | This is antithesis because | 20 | |
| 13252392070 | apophasis | a device wherein the speaker or writer brings up a subject by either denying it, or denying that it should be brought up | 21 | |
| 13252397240 | aposiopesis | a figure in which the speaker abruptly stops or falls short of completing a statement; stopping short of completing a statement | 22 | |
| 13252397241 | apposition | a noun or noun phrase that follows another noun immediately or defines or amplified its meaning | 23 | |
| 13252403140 | asyndeton | the omission of conjunctions between words, phrases or clauses | 24 | |
| 13252407670 | chiasmus | a figure of speech in which words, grammatical constructions or concepts are repeated in reverse order | 25 | |
| 13252407671 | climax | a figure or repetition in which words or phrases or sentences are arranged in order increasing intensity or importance | 26 | |
| 13252410865 | colloquial | a word of phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations | 27 | |
| 13252414763 | distinctio | the repetition of a word or phrase after an interviewing word or phrase | 28 | |
| 13252417397 | epanalepsis | a figure of speech where words at the start of a sentence or clause are repeated at the end | 29 | |
| 13252421145 | epistrophe | the repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of the successive clauses | 30 | |
| 13398286353 | epistrophe example "Where now? Who now? When now | The reason for this example is because the writer brings up a subject by either denying it, or denying that it should be brought up | 31 | |
| 13398286355 | distinctio example "To make methanol for twenty-five cents a gallon is impossible; by "impossible" I mean currently beyond our technological capabilities." | The reason for this example is because Followed by a further elaboration of that word's meaning. | 32 | |
| 13398286356 | colloquial example -When you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody. | The reason for this example is because J. D. Salinger's most famous book is noted for the very informal way in which the narrator, Holden Caulfield, addresses the audience. The book has been banned in numerous places over the years for its use of profanity, which is a chief example of colloquialism. There are also colloquial phrases in this excerpt such as "fix you up" and "hope to hell." | 33 | |
| 13398286357 | Climax example -"O! I am Fortune's Fool!" | He realizes that he has killed his wife's cousin. This juncture in the play is a climax, as the audience wonders how Romeo would get out of this terrible situation. Similarly, it qualifies as a climax because, after this act, all the prior conflicts start to be resolved, and mysteries unfold themselves, thus moving the story toward its logical conclusion during the coming scenes. | 34 | |
| 13398286358 | chiasmus example "Never let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You." | Notice that the second half of this sentence is an inverted form of the first half, both grammatically and logically. In the simplest sense, the term chiasmus applies to almost all "criss-cross" structures, and this is a concept that is common these days. In its strict classical sense, however, the function of chiasmus is to reverse grammatical structure or ideas of sentences, given that the same words and phrases are not repeated. | 35 | |
| 13398286359 | Asyndeton example -"This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated you, who meant to betray you completely..." | The reason for this example is because the word "and" is not featured in the given lines, which could have functioned as a conjunction here. Aristotle believed that asyndeton could be effective if used in the ending of the texts. Here he himself employed this device. | 36 | |
| 13398331992 | Apposition example -"Though her cheeks were high-colored and her teeth strong and yellow, she looked like a mechanical woman, a machine with flashing, glassy circles for eyes." | In this example, the noun "mechanical woman" is defined and identified by a long noun phrase, a restrictive appositive, "flashing, gassy circles for eyes," which serves as a useful device in this excerpt, and brings variety to the sentence, enhancing its meaning. | 37 | |
| 13398331993 | aposiopesis example "This is the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world! Oh...! Oh, the humanity, and all the passengers screaming around here. I told you...I can't even talk to people...." | Dr. House on television is also famous for his aposiopesis examples. In almost every episode he and his team struggle with correctly diagnosing a difficult case. And in almost every episode House is having a conversation with someone that has nothing to do with the case and he suddenly breaks off, clearly with an epiphany about the correct diagnosis. | 38 | |
| 13398368176 | apophasis example If you were not my father, I would say you were perverse. | Writer brings up a subject by either denying it, or denying that it should be brought up | 39 | |
| 13785420037 | Diacope Example -"The horror! Oh, the horror!" | Repetition in this line is on the phrase "the horror," which emphasizes how horrific something is! It also shows how a character is mentally overwhelmed. | 40 | |
| 13525891286 | Diacope | Repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or phrase | 41 | |
| 13513814541 | Epizeuxis | a figure of emphasis in which the same word (or words) is repeated two or more times over in immediate succession | 42 | |
| 13513819517 | eponym | a person or character from whose name a word or title is derived, or the name that has become synonymous with some general characteristic or idea | 43 | |
| 13513832525 | euphemism | a more acceptable and usually more pleasant way of saying something that might be inappropriate or uncomfortable | 44 | |
| 13513835192 | hyperbole | exaggeration or overstatement | 45 | |
| 13513837735 | Hypophora | a rhetorical strategy in which a speaker or writer raises a question and then immediately answers it | 46 | |
| 13513842556 | idiom | an expression of two or more words that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words | 47 | |
| 13513848068 | irony | the expression of something which is country to the intended meaning | 48 | |
| 13513848069 | jargon | specialized terminology; a characteristic of a particular subject | 49 | |
| 13513852980 | Juxtaposition | a literary technique in which two or more ideas, places,characteristics and their actions are placed side by side | 50 | |
| 13585895186 | euphemism example -"I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs." | Here, the expression "making the beast with two backs" refers to the act of having sex. | 51 | |
| 13585895187 | hyperbole example -"I had to wait in the station for ten days - an eternity." | The act of waiting ten days seemed to last forever and never end. | 52 | |
| 13585895188 | Hypophora Example -"What made me take this trip to Africa? There is no quick explanation. Things got worse and worse and worse and pretty soon they were too complicated." | -"I had to wait in the station for ten days - an eternity." | 53 | |
| 13585895189 | idiom example -"I worked the graveyard shift with old people, which was really demoralizing, because the old people didn't have a chance in hell of ever getting out." | In the extract quoted above, "graveyard shift" is employed as an idiom. | 54 | |
| 13585895190 | Irony example -"Go ask his name: if he be married. My grave is like to be my wedding bed." | Juliet commands her nurse to find out who Romeo was, and says if he were married, then her wedding bed would be her grave. It is a verbal irony because the audience knows that she is going to die on her wedding bed. | 55 | |
| 13585895191 | jargon example -HAMLET to HORATIO: "Why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillities, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? Why does he suffer this mad knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be in's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt? Will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases and double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will scarcely lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha?" | Here, you can see the use of words specifically related to the field of law, marked in bold. These are legal words used at the time of Shakespeare. | 56 | |
| 13585895192 | Juxtaposition example -"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way ..." | In order to give us an idea of the factors responsible for the French Revolution, Dickens uses juxtaposition throughout the novel. Here, the haves and have-nots are put side-by-side to highlight the presence of severe disparity and discord in the then-French society, which ultimately paved the way for the revolution. By examining the given juxtaposition, readers can vividly imagine the calamitous atmosphere before the revolution, and understand its need at that time. | 57 | |
| 13599870251 | eponym example -Every Who Down in Whoville Liked Christmas a lot... But the Grinch,Who lived just north of Whoville, Did NOT! The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all, May have been that his heart was two sizes too small. | In a more light-hearted example of an eponym, the creative author Dr. Seuss made up the name "Grinch" for his hard-hearted villain character in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Dr. Seuss was famous for his wordplay and creation of new terms. The Grinch is a particularly memorable character due to his scheming and his heart, which Seuss writes, "was two sizes too small." The Grinch does everything he can to destroy the celebration of Christmas beloved to the people of Whoville. The term grinch is now applied to anyone miserly or against fun and celebration. | 58 | |
| 13600895474 | euphemism example -"I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs." | Here, the expression "making the beast with two backs" refers to the act of having sex. | 59 | |
| 13784958192 | metaphor | a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarty | 60 | |
| 13784977187 | oxymoron | a figure of speech consisting of two apparently contradictory terms | 61 | |
| 13784980518 | paradox | a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth | 62 | |
| 13784991396 | paronomasia | a play on words, either on different senses of the same word or on the similar sense or sound of different words | 63 | |
| 13784996568 | periphrasis | the use of an unnecessarily lengthy expression in place of one that's more direct and concise | 64 | |
| 13785004303 | personification | a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes | 65 | |
| 13785565409 | polyptoton | the repetition of words derived from the same root but with different endings | 66 | |
| 13785574735 | polysyndeton | the use of a number of conjunctions in succession | 67 | |
| 13785578486 | procatalepsis | a rhetorical strategy in which a speaker or writer anticipates and responds to an opponent's objections | 68 | |
| 13785591496 | rhetorical question | a question that is asked merely for effect with no answer expected | 69 | |
| 13785601098 | metaphor example -"She's all states, and all princes, I ..." | John Donne, a metaphysical poet, was well-known for his abundant use of metaphors throughout his poetical works. In his well-known work, The Sun Rising, the speaker scolds the sun for waking him and his beloved. Among the most evocative metaphors in literature, he explains "She is all states, and all princes, I." This line demonstrates the speaker's belief that he and his beloved are richer than all states, kingdoms, and rulers in the entire world because of the love that they share. | 70 | |
| 13785606752 | oxymoron example -Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O anything, of nothing first create! O heavy lightness! Serious vanity! | We notice a series of oxymora being employed when Romeo confronts the love of an inaccessible woman. An intense emotional effect is produced, to highlight his mental conflict by the use of contradictory pairs of words, such as "hating love," "heavy lightness," "bright smoke," "cold fire," and "sick health". | 71 | |
| 13785610421 | paradox example -"I must be cruel to be kind." | This announcement does not seem to make sense. How can an individual treat others kindly even when he is cruel? However, Hamlet is talking about his mother, and how he intends to kill Claudius to avenge his father's death. This act of Hamlet will be a tragedy for his mother, who is married to Claudius. Hamlet does not want his mother to be the beloved of his father's murderer any longer, and so he thinks that the murder will be good for his mother. | 72 | |
| 13785620846 | paronomasia example -"Tickler was a wax-ended piece of cane, worn smooth by collision with my tickled frame." | Here, Dickens plays on the word "tickle." This word is maneuvered in such a way that it gives two different meanings and comic effect. | 73 | |
| 13785627210 | periphrasis example-"When that fell arrest Without all bail shall carry me away." | In this extract, Shakespeare is explaining death and its consequences. He has used an indirect way of illustrating death as "when that fell." Here it means, when death comes, no one would be able to save him | 74 | |
| 13785627211 | personification example -"When well-appareled April on the heel Of limping winter treads." | There are two personification examples here. April cannot put on a dress, and winter does not limp, nor does it have a heel on which a month can walk. Shakespeare personifies the month of April and the winter season by giving them two distinct human qualities. | 75 | |
| 13785631696 | polyptoton example -"The Greeks are strong, and skillful to their strength, fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant ..." | In this excerpt, Shakespeare has repeated three words in different ways. Each use of these words creates a different sense. The word, "strong" is repeated as "strength." In the same way, the root words "fierce" and "skill" are also used twice. | 76 | |
| 13785635948 | polysyndeton example -"And Joshua, and all of Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had." | This is among the best examples of polysyndeton found in classical or religious text. See how the conjunction "and" has been used in quick succession to join all the items given in this text. | 77 | |
| 13785656691 | procatalepsis example -"Someone will say: 'Yes, Socrates, but cannot you hold your tongue, and then you may go into a foreign city, and no one will interfere with you?' Now I have great difficulty in making you understand my answer to this ... and that the life which is unexamined is not worth living - that you are still less likely to believe. And yet what I say is true, although a thing of which it is hard for me to persuade you." | In this example, the speaker is persuading the listeners. He knows that the other person would not believe him, and that he is unable to convince him despite the fact that he is telling the truth. Thus, the speaker is objecting to his own argument to strengthen it. | 78 | |
| 13785664010 | rhetorical question example JULIET: " 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." | A very good example of rhetorical question in literature is from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Here, Juliet makes a statement that a man's name does not define him as a person. She draws attention to this issue by asking two important rhetorical questions, as noted in bold. | 79 |
