12686133755 | Ad Hominem Argument | Attacking an individual's character rather than answering his or her argument. Not using reason, but emotion. | 0 | |
12686162602 | Allegory | A representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete forms-symbolic narrative or story. | 1 | |
12686182348 | Allusion | Making a casual reference to something, hinting about things. | 2 | |
12686202917 | Anaphora | Repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive verses, clauses, or sentences (using a pronoun or it). | 3 | |
12686237536 | Anthropomorphism | Conception or representation, as of a deity. The attribution of human force or behavior to a deity or animal. | 4 | |
12686262818 | Antithesis | A figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other, such as "hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins". | 5 | |
12686292800 | Aphorism | A terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation. "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutley". | 6 | |
12686327321 | Chiasmus | Two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect. "Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you". | 7 | |
12686342553 | Colloquialism | An expression. A word or phrase appropriate to conversation and other informal situations. | 8 | |
12686363826 | Conceit | Excessively favorability of one's own ability or importance. | 9 | |
12686396619 | Denouement | Final resoulution of the plot, the final outcome. | 10 | |
12686415155 | Didacticism | Intended for instruction or instructive, to teach, teaches a moral lesson. | 11 | |
12686438027 | Effusive | Extravagantly gushing with emotion. | 12 | |
12686457210 | Epithet | Any word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality. A descriptive word or phrase added to or substituted for a person's name. | 13 | |
12686486961 | Ethos | Refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of the writer or speaker. This is the "ethical appeal". | 14 | |
12686509787 | Euphemism | A prase or word thsat is substituted for another word. (departed means dead) | 15 | |
12686532582 | Exposition | The act of expounding (presenting) speech intended to convey information. | 16 | |
12686552180 | Figurative Language | Language or discourse that contains or uses figure of speech (especially metaphor). | 17 | |
12686578385 | Foreshadowing | Suggesting of something (object or image) to come. | 18 | |
12686597368 | Gerund | A word derived from a verb and functioning as anoun. -ing as in "writing" is easy. Looks like a verb, but functions as a noun. | 19 | |
12686629381 | Hyperbole | An expression that is an over exaggeration. | 20 | |
12686646126 | Imagery | The formation of mental images, rhetorical images, figurative description. | 21 | |
12686675272 | Logos | Clarity, logical, arguments using logical appeal. | 22 | |
12686685731 | Metaphor | A figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two unrelated things. | 23 | |
12686710615 | Paradox | Contradictory statement, but could express a possible truth. | 24 | |
12686724356 | Parsimonious | Frugal or stingy. | 25 | |
12686732036 | Pathos | Evoking a feeling of pity, sympathy, sorrow, or compassion for someone. | 26 | |
12686745852 | Personification | Attributing human characteristics to non-human objects. | 27 | |
12686770307 | Simile | A figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared using like or as. "She is like a rose". | 28 |
AP Language/Literary Devices 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!