14662946135 | Allegory | The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning | 0 | |
14662964945 | Alliteration | The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonants or more neighboring words | 1 | |
14662967918 | Allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art | 2 | |
14662969713 | Analogy | A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them | 3 | |
14662973460 | Anecdote | A short, simple narrative of an incident | 4 | |
14662978450 | Connotation | The non literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning | 5 | |
14662981412 | Denotation | The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion attitude, or color | 6 | |
14662985746 | Diction | the writer's word choices and style, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness | 7 | |
14662988995 | Extended metaphor | A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout the work | 8 | |
14662991816 | Figurative language | Speech or writing that departs from literal meaning to achieve a special effect or meaning, ex. imagery, hyperbole, understatement, simile, metaphor, extended metaphor, and symbolism | 9 | |
14662996600 | Flashback | A device by which the writer presents scenes or incidents that occurred prior to the opening scene of the work | 10 | |
14662997924 | Hyperbole | A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement | 11 | |
14663000052 | Imagery | The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions, ex. the five senses | 12 | |
14663003356 | Irony/ironic | The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant, ex. verbal, situational, dramatic | 13 | |
14663008771 | Metaphor | A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, ex. simile | 14 | |
14663010901 | Mood (atmosphere) | The prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work | 15 | |
14663013839 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech composed of contradictory words or phrases, ex. wise fool, bitter sweet | 16 | |
14663019409 | Personification | A figure of speech in which the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions | 17 | |
14663023395 | Point of view | the perspective from which a story is told | 18 | |
14663025849 | Pun | A play on words, either plays on multiple meanings of a word or replaces the word with another that is similar in sound but very different in meaning. | 19 | |
14783452444 | Repetition | The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern | 20 | |
14783455105 | Assonance | repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in a sequence of words | 21 | |
14783457627 | Consonance | repetition of identical consonant sounds words in close proximity | 22 | |
14783461132 | Symbol | A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract | 23 | |
14783463371 | Tone | characteristic emotion or attitude of an author toward the characters, subject, and audience | 24 | |
14783466285 | Ambiguity | The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage | 25 | |
14783469374 | Anaphora | repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines | 26 | |
14783472262 | Anastrophe | The reversal of word order for effect | 27 | |
14783474846 | Antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun | 28 | |
14783474847 | Antiphrasis | the use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal sense (especially in irony) | 29 | |
14783482477 | Antithesis | Figure of balance in which two contrasting ideas are intentionally juxtaposed | 30 | |
14783486969 | Appeal | any persuasive strategy, especially one directed to the emotions, sense of humor, or cherished beliefs of an audience | 31 | |
14783495865 | Aphorism | A short, often witty statement articulating a principle or a truth about life | 32 | |
14783498984 | Apostrophe | figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction | 33 | |
14783498986 | Asyndeton | omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses | 34 | |
14783502104 | Atmosphere | The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects that are described | 35 | |
14783505479 | Avant-garde | suggest art or writing that challenges tradition, or that is innovative, experimental, revolutionary, or ahead of its time | 36 | |
14783505480 | Bombast | Language that is overly rhetorical (pompous) | 37 | |
14783511589 | Chiasmus | a figure of speech in which two successive phrases or clauses are parallel in syntax, but reverse the order of the analogous words | 38 | |
14783514209 | Clause | A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb | 39 | |
15164181978 | Colloquial/Colloquialism | The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing | 40 | |
15164182980 | Coherence (unity) | quality of a piece of writing in which all the parts contribute to the development of the central idea, theme, or organizing principle | 41 | |
15164187343 | Conceit | A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects. | 42 | |
15164190055 | Diacope | Repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or phrase | 43 | |
15164191551 | Deduction | The process of logic in which a thinker takes a rule for a large, general category and assumes that specific individual examples fitting within that general category obey the same rule | 44 | |
15164194593 | Dialect | The language of a particular district, class, or group of persons | 45 | |
15164200964 | Dystopia | imaginary place where living conditions are dreadful, opposite of utopia | 46 | |
15164204886 | Eclipsis | a type of enallage in which an author or poet omits essential grammatical elements to create a poetic or artful effect | 47 | |
15164206260 | Ellipsis (plural, ellipses) | in its oldest sense as a rhetorical device, ellipsis refers to the artful omission of a word implied by a previous clause | 48 | |
15182949615 | Enallage (Greek, "interchange") | the intentional misuse of grammar to characterize a speaker or to create a memorable phrase | 49 | |
15182955075 | Enumeration | a subject is divided into constituent parts or details, and may include a listing of causes, effects, problems, solutions, conditions, and consequences; the listing or detailing of the parts of something | 50 | |
15183032574 | Euphemism | An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant | 51 | |
15183036794 | Epitaph | an inscription carved on a gravestone or the final statement spoken by a character before his death | 52 | |
15183064738 | Exposition | one of four narrative device, often used at the beginning of a work that provides necessary background information about the characters and their circumstances | 53 | |
15183077732 | Figure of speech | A device used to produce figurative language such as apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, and understatement | 54 | |
15183086683 | Generalization | A claim based upon an isolated example or asserts that a claim is certain rather than probable | 55 | |
15187943746 | Genre | The major category into which a literary work fits with many subcategories within | 56 | |
15187968082 | Homily | This term literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice | 57 | |
15188001016 | Hypophora | a figure of speech in which a writer raises a question and then immediately provides an answer to that question | 58 | |
15188042743 | Inference/infer | to draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented | 59 | |
15729994826 | Induction | the reasoning process that moves from a given series of specifics to derive a general rule, it draws inferences from observations in order to make generalizations | 60 | |
15730000983 | Invective | an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attach using strong, abusive language | 61 | |
15729998343 | Inversion (anastrophe) | a reversal of the customary order of elements (subject, verb, complement) in a sentence or phrase | 62 | |
15730005343 | Jargon | the special language of a profession or group | 63 | |
15730007930 | Juxtaposition | when two words, phrases, images, ideas are placed close together or side by side for comparison or contrast. | 64 | |
15730009757 | Litotes | a figure of thought in which a point is affirmed by negating its opposite | 65 | |
15730013497 | Loose sentence (cumulative sentence) | a type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses | 66 | |
15730018555 | Metonymy | a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it, the substituted term generally carries a more potent emotional response | 67 | |
15730021944 | Narrative | the telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events | 68 | |
15730024212 | Oversimplification | a logical fallacy by which the reasoned obscures or denies the complexity of the issues in an argument | 69 | |
15730030569 | Paradox | a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity | 70 | |
15730032480 | Parallelism(parallel construction or parallel structure) | the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity | 71 | |
15730037051 | Parody | a work that ridicules the style of another work by imitating and exaggerating its elements, it can be utterly mocking or gently humorous | 72 | |
15730041228 | Pedantic | an adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish | 73 | |
15730042634 | Periodic sentence | a sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end, this independent clause is preceded by a phrase or clause that cannot stand alone | 74 | |
15730048556 | Picaresque novel | a humorous novel in which the plot consists of a young knave's misadventures and escapades narrated in comic or satiric scenes | 75 | |
15730053283 | Polysyndeton | figure of addition and emphasis which intentionally employs a series of conjunctions not normally found in successive words, phrases or clauses; the deliberate and excessive use of conjunctions in successive words or clauses | 76 | |
15730061591 | Predicate adjective | a type of subject complement is an adjective, group of adjectives, or adjective clause that follows a linking verb; the predicate of the sentence, and modifies, or describes, the subject | 77 | |
15730069409 | Predicate nominative | a type of subject complement, a noun, group of nouns, or noun clause that names the subject; like the predicate adjective, follows a linking verb and is located in the predicate of the sentence | 78 | |
15841756470 | Prose | one of the major divisions of genre, refers to fiction and non-fiction, including all its forms | 79 | |
15841797700 | Regionalism | an element in literature that conveys a realistic portrayal of a specific geographical locale, using the locale and its influences as a major part of the plot | 80 | |
15841801724 | Rhetoric | the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively | 81 | |
15841819880 | Rhetorical modes | the variety, the conventions, and purposes of the major kinds of writing; exposition, description, narration, argumentation | 82 | |
15953071942 | Rhetorical Question | a question that does not anticipate an explicit answer. It is used to pose an idea to be considered by the speaker or audience | 83 | |
15953087082 | Sarcasm | bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something, may use irony as a device, intended to ridicule | 84 | |
15953107106 | Satire | the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues | 85 | |
15953159264 | Stereotype | a character that represents a trait that is usually attributed (unfairly) to a particular social or racial group | 86 | |
15953164618 | Style | an evaluation of the sum of the choices an author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices OR classification of authors to a group and comparison of an author to similar authors | 87 | |
15979572599 | Subject complement | The word or clauses that follows a linking verb and complements, or completes, the subject of the sentence by either renaming it or describing it; ex. predicate nominative or predicate adjective | 88 | |
15979600776 | Subordinate clause | contains both a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone, also known as a dependent clause | 89 | |
15979605223 | Subjectivity | a personal presentation of events and characters, influenced by the author's feelings and opinions | 90 | |
15979606770 | Syllogism | A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion | 91 | |
15979610638 | Synecdoche | a type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part | 92 | |
15979639775 | Syntax | the grammatical structure of a sentence; that is, the arrangement of words in a sentence | 93 | |
15979641235 | Transition | a word or phrase or clause that links one idea to the next and carries the reader from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph | 94 | |
15979643306 | Trope | any rhetorical device or figure of speech involving shifts in the meaning of words | 95 | |
15979644132 | Understatement | the ironic minimizing of fact, presents something as less significant than it is, opposite of hyperbole | 96 | |
15979646372 | Wit | intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights | 97 |
AP Language and Composition Vocabulary Flashcards
Primary tabs
Need Help?
We hope your visit has been a productive one. If you're having any problems, or would like to give some feedback, we'd love to hear from you.
For general help, questions, and suggestions, try our dedicated support forums.
If you need to contact the Course-Notes.Org web experience team, please use our contact form.
Need Notes?
While we strive to provide the most comprehensive notes for as many high school textbooks as possible, there are certainly going to be some that we miss. Drop us a note and let us know which textbooks you need. Be sure to include which edition of the textbook you are using! If we see enough demand, we'll do whatever we can to get those notes up on the site for you!