Terms : Hide Images
| 7231580488 | alliteration | The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning or in the middle of two or more adjacent words. Ex: "To make a man to meet the moral need/ A man to match the mountains and the sea" (Edwin Markham) | 0 | |
| 7262856457 | Absolute | a word free from limitations or qualifications ("best," "all," "unique," "perfect") | 1 | |
| 7262859653 | Adage | a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth. "the old adage "out of sight out of mind."" | 2 | |
| 7262861622 | Antanaclasis | repetition of a word in two different senses. "Your argument is sound, nothing but sound." | 3 | |
| 7262867274 | Ad Hominem Argument | when an argument is directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining. "vicious ad hominem attacks" | 4 | |
| 7262870025 | Allegory | A literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions EX: Jack from Lord of the Flies represents dictatorships | 5 | |
| 7262878654 | Antecedent | going before; preceding; an occurrence or event preceding another the noun that is replaced by the following pronoun | 6 | |
| 7262881559 | Anecdote | a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. "told anecdotes about his job" synonyms: story, tale, narrative, incident; | 7 | |
| 7262885632 | Anthropomorphism | the attribution of human traits, emotions, and intentions to non-human entities | 8 | |
| 7262889206 | Anticlimax | a letdown; a decline from the impressive to the commonplace | 9 | |
| 7231580489 | allusion | a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize. For example, Biblical or mythological allusions. | 10 | |
| 7231580490 | anadiplosis | The repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause. Ex: "Men in great place are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state; servants of fame; and servants of business." (Francis Bacon) | 11 | |
| 7231580491 | analogy | a comparison in which a thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain way because it is similar to the thing in other ways. | 12 | |
| 7231580492 | anaphora | The repetition of a group of words at the beginning of successive clauses. Ex: "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence..." (Winston Churchill) | 13 | |
| 7231580493 | antithesis | A device by which two contrasting ideas are juxtaposed in parallel form. "To err is human; to forgive divine." (Alexander Pope) | 14 | |
| 7231580494 | aphorism | A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief. | 15 | |
| 7231580495 | apostrophe | The direct address of an absent person or personified object as if he/she/it is able to reply. Ex: "O' Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?" (William Shakespeare) | 16 | |
| 7231580496 | archetype | a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response. | 17 | |
| 7231580497 | assonance | The repetition of vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of two or more adjacent words. Ex: "Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies" (John Keats) | 18 | |
| 7262898614 | Anachronism | anything that is out of place in time | 19 | |
| 7231580498 | asyndeton | The omission of conjunctions between related clauses. Ex: "This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated you, who meant to betray you completely." (Aristotle) | 20 | |
| 7262905935 | Appositive | An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it. The appositive can be a short or long combination of words. Look at these appositive examples, all of which rename insect: The insect, a cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table. | 21 | |
| 7262979907 | Bathos | (especially in a work of literature) an effect of anticlimax created by an unintentional lapse in mood from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous. synonyms: anticlimax, letdown, disappointment, disillusionment; | 22 | |
| 7231580499 | chiasmus | Inverted relationship between two elements in two parallel phrases. Ex: "To stop too fearful and too faint to go." "Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you.""His time a moment, and a point his space." | 23 | |
| 7231580500 | cliché | an expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness has worn off. "I felt a chill run down my spine." "As cold as ice." "My heart skipped a beat." | 24 | |
| 7231580501 | colloquialism | Informal language, often considered inappropriate for formal occasions and text. Ex: "This is sick." | 25 | |
| 7262997797 | Conceit | A fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor | 26 | |
| 7231580502 | concrete detail | details that relate to or describe actual, specific things or events; imagery. | 27 | |
| 7231580503 | connotation | the implied or associative meaning of a word. EX: House vs. Home | 28 | |
| 7263003364 | Consonance | Consonance refers to repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession such as in pitter, patter. | 29 | |
| 7231580504 | denotation | the literal meaning of a word. EX: House - a dwelling where someone lives. | 30 | |
| 7231580505 | diction | Word choice, which is viewed on scales of formality/informality, concreteness/abstraction, Latinate derivation/Anglo-Saxon derivation, and denotative value/connotative value. Ex: Using "issue" instead of "problem." | 31 | |
| 7231580507 | dissonance | harsh, inharmonious, or discordant sounds. | 32 | |
| 7231580509 | enumeration | Making a point more forcibly by listing detailed causes or effects; to enumerate: count off or list one by one. As in a list. Does not have to be numbered. | 33 | |
| 7263015477 | Deductive Reasoning | reasoning from the general to the specific | 34 | |
| 7263020282 | Dialect | The language used by the people of a specific area, class, district or any other group of people. The term dialect involves the spelling, sounds, grammar | 35 | |
| 7231580510 | epiphany | a moment of sudden revelation or insight. | 36 | |
| 7231580511 | epistrophe | The repetition of a group of words at the end of successive clauses. Ex: "We saw into the night. We ran into the night. We fell into the night." | 37 | |
| 7231580512 | euphemism | An indirect expression of unpleasant information in such way as to lessen its impact. Ex 1: "Passed way" for "died." Ex 2: "You see, I carry on a little business on the side, a sort of a sideline, you understand"(Fitzgerald 87). | 38 | |
| 7231580513 | expletive | A single word or short phrase intended to emphasize surrounding words. Commonly, expletives are set off by commas. Does not add semantic meaning to sentence. Syntactic effect. EX: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Jane Austen. EX: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . . There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face. . ." | 39 | |
| 7231580514 | extended metaphor | Also known as a conceit or sustained metaphor; when an author exploits a single metaphor or analogy at length throughout a work. | 40 | |
| 7263041250 | Ellipsis | in a sentence, the omission of a word or words replaced by three periods Ex He said... Can you believe that? | 41 | |
| 7263045344 | Elegy | A song or poem memorializing something or someone | 42 | |
| 7263048812 | Epigram | A concise but ingenious, witty, and thoughtful statement. | 43 | |
| 7263055177 | Epigraph | the use of a quotation at the beginning of a work that hints at its theme | 44 | |
| 7263056843 | Epiphany | A moment of sudden revelation or insight | 45 | |
| 7263061194 | Epitaph | a brief statement written on a tomb or gravestone | 46 | |
| 7263064816 | Epithet | A descriptive name or phrase used to characterize someone or something | 47 | |
| 7231580515 | figurative language | Language dominated by the use of schemes and tropes. Poetic language. Not literal. Ex: "The ground is thirsty and hungry." | 48 | |
| 7231580516 | hyperbole | intentional exaggeration to create an effect. I'm as hungry as a horse. | 49 | |
| 7263067918 | Homily | a sermon, or a moralistic lecture | 50 | |
| 7263071275 | Hubris | excessive pride or arrogance | 51 | |
| 7231580517 | idiom | an expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words in the expression; or, a regional speech or dialect. It's raining cats and dogs. | 52 | |
| 7231580518 | imagery | Language that evokes particular sensations or emotionally rich experiences in a reader. Ex: "...ran for a huge black knotted trees whose massed leaves made a fabric against the rain..." (Fitzgerald 93). | 53 | |
| 7231580520 | irony | Writing or speaking that implies the contrary of what is actually written or spoken. | 54 | |
| 7263118396 | Inductive Reasoning | a sequence of thought that moves from specific facts to a general conclusion | 55 | |
| 7263205736 | Internal Rhyme | A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line | 56 | |
| 7263208329 | Iambic Pentameter | line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable, for example Two households, both alike in dignity. | 57 | |
| 7263121609 | Invective | (n.) a strong denunciation or condemnation; abusive language; (adj.) abusive, vituperative | 58 | |
| 7231580521 | jargon | The specialized vocabulary of a particular group. Ex: Bilateral periorbital hematoma (a black eye). | 59 | |
| 7231580522 | juxtaposition | Placing of two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish some other purpose. | 60 | |
| 7231580523 | litotes | Inverted understatement. Negates the opposite. Ex: When referring to a hurricane. "Well, that was not a gentle rain." "I am not as young as I used to be." | 61 | |
| 7231580524 | malapropism | the mistaken substitution of one word for another that sounds similar. Ex. The doctor wrote a subscription. | 62 | |
| 7231580525 | maxim | a concise statement, often offering advice; an adage. "The bigger the better." | 63 | |
| 7231580526 | metonymy | An entity referred to by one of its attributes or associations. Ex: The White House apologized for the misunderstanding. . | 64 | |
| 7231580527 | mood | The feeling that a text is intended to produce in the audience. Ex: In John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, the mood is mostly dark and gloomy. | 65 | |
| 7231580528 | motif | a standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs throughout the work. | 66 | |
| 7263203221 | Meter | A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry | 67 | |
| 7263125769 | Metaphor | comparison that does not use like or as | 68 | |
| 7231580529 | onomatopoeia | A literary device in which the sound of a word is related to its meaning. Ex: Words like "bang," and "click". | 69 | |
| 7231580530 | oxymoron | an expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined. Jumbo shrimp. Loud silence. | 70 | |
| 7231580531 | paradox | A statement that seems untrue on the surface but is true nevertheless. Ex: "Not having a fashion is a fashion." | 71 | |
| 7263133800 | Parenthesis | Word phrase or sentence inserted into the middle of another sentence a word, clause, or sentence inserted as an explanation or afterthought into a passage that is grammatically complete without it, in writing usually marked off by curved brackets, dashes, or commas. | 72 | |
| 7263138253 | Perphrasis | he use of separate words to express a grammatical relationship that is otherwise expressed by inflection, e.g., did go as opposed to went and more intelligent as opposed to smarter. | 73 | |
| 7231580532 | parallelism | The repetition of syntactic construction in successive sentences for rhetorical effect. "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." | 74 | |
| 7231580533 | persona | The character that a writer or speaker conveys to the audience; the plural is personae. Ex: In The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway is a persona. | 75 | |
| 7231580534 | personification | The giving of human characteristics to inanimate objects. Ex: The car choked at the stoplight, gave its final breath, and died. | 76 | |
| 7231580536 | polysyndeton | Repetition of conjunctions in close succession. Ex: "We have ships and men and money and stores." | 77 | |
| 7231580537 | pun | A play on words. Types of puns include anataclasis, words that sound alike but have different meanings; paranomasia, words alike in sound but different in meaning; and syllepsis, a word used differently in relation to two other words it governs or modifies. Ex: "I moss say I'm taking a lichen to that fungi." | 78 | |
| 7231580538 | reptition | In a text, repeated use of sounds, words, phrases, or clauses to emphasize meaning or achieve effect. Ex 1: The dog ran, the dog jumped, and the dog whimpered. Ex 2:"'Hot!' said the conductor to familiar faces. 'Some Weather! ... Hot! ... Hot! ... Hot! ... Is it hot enough ... '" | 79 | |
| 7231580539 | rhetorical question | A question posed by the speaker or writer not to seek an answer but instead to affirm or deny a point simply by asking a question about it. Ex: "Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?" (Shakespeare). | 80 | |
| 7231580540 | sarcasm | The use of mockery or bitter irony. Ex: "That's so funny I forgot to laugh!" | 81 | |
| 7231580541 | simile | a comparison of two things using "like," "as," or other specifically comparative words. | 82 | |
| 7263153087 | Satire | A literary style used to make fun of or ridicule an idea or human vice or weakness Utilizes exaggerations, reversals, and incongruity to ridicule a subject matter | 83 | |
| 7263163594 | Syllepsis | a figure of speech in which a word is applied to two others in different senses (e.g., caught the train and a bad cold ) or to two others of which it grammatically suits only one (e.g., neither they nor it is working ). | 84 | |
| 7263171678 | Syllogism | an instance of a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn (whether validly or not) from two given or assumed propositions (premises), each of which shares a term with the conclusion, and shares a common or middle term not present in the conclusion (e.g., all dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore all dogs have four legs ). | 85 | |
| 7263177316 | Surrealism | a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself.[1] Its aim was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality". | 86 | |
| 7231580542 | symbol | an object that is used to represent something else. A bud to represent new life. | 87 | |
| 7231580543 | synecdoche | A rhetorical device where one part of an object is used to represent the whole. That's a nice set of wheels. | 88 | |
| 7263185907 | Solecism | a grammatical mistake in speech or writing. synonyms: (grammatical) mistake, error, blunder; More a breach of good manners; a piece of incorrect behavior. synonyms: faux pas, gaffe, impropriety, social indiscretion, infelicity, slip, error, blunder, lapse; More | 89 | |
| 7231580544 | synesthesia | describing one kind of sensation in terms of another ( loud color, a sweet sound). | 90 | |
| 7231580545 | tautology | A group of words that merely repeats the meaning already conveyed. Ex: "If you don't get any better, then you'll never improve." Free gift. | 91 | |
| 7231580546 | transition | Words and devices that bring unity and coherence to a piece of writing. In addition to, Not only but also, Consequently | 92 | |
| 7263190300 | Understatement | e presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is. | 93 | |
| 7231580547 | vernacular | the everyday speech of a particular country or region, often involving nonstandard usage. Slang. | 94 | |
| 7263193781 | Zeugma | verb/ adjective that implies to more than one noun Ex: he lost his coat and temper figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses (e.g., John and his license expired last week ) or to two others of which it semantically suits only one (e.g., with weeping eyes and hearts ). | 95 |
