AP Language Literary Terms - Definitions Flashcards

7402861852	Ad Hominem	Attacking the person instead of their argument itself	0
7402861853	Adage, Aphorism, Maxim	A phrase that expresses a general truth	1
7402861854	Allegory	A story whose components are a metaphor to real life	2
7402861855	Anachronism	Something that appears in the wrong time period	3
7402861856	Anaphora	Repeating a word or phrase in the beginning of multiple clauses	4
7402861857	Antecedent	A word or phrase that another word refers to, generally a pronoun	5
7402861858	Anthropomorphism	Giving human attributes to something not human, generally a deity	6
7402861859	Antithesis	Placing a sentence against the opposite sentence for contrast	7
7402861860	Apostrophe	A literary device where a character addresses an imaginary character	8
7402861861	Appeal to Ignorance	A fallacy that states an argument is true because it has not been proven false	9
7402861862	Archetype	A symbol or character repeatedly used or imitated; cliché	10
7402861863	Verbal Irony	Using words contrary to their definitions or the speaker's real feeling; sarcasm	11
7402861864	Argument from Authority	A fallacy that states an argument must be true because a body in power said so	12
7402861865	Assonance	The repetition of vowel sounds in the beginning of a line	13
7402861866	Asyndeton	Deliberately removing conjunctions from a series of phrases	14
7402861867	Zeugma	Use of a single word in which a word applies to two others in different senses or it semantically suits only one	15
7402861868	Synecdoche	Using the whole for a part or vice-versa when referring to something	16
7402861869	Syntax	The way words in a sentence are ordered	17
7402861870	Bandwagon	A persuasive technique that states something is worth using or doing because the majority does so	18
7402861871	Begging the Question	A fallacy where the conclusion of a question is accepted as true in the question; circular argument	19
7402861872	Bombast	Pretentious writing or speech	20
7402861873	Understatement	Suggesting something is less than it actually is; opposite of hyperbole	21
7402861874	Stream of Consciousness	A form of narrative where a character's unspoken and subconscious thoughts are shown in a string, generally without proper grammar	22
7402861875	Syllogism	An argument where a conclusion is arrived at using two other true conclusions; deductive reasoning	23
7402861876	Chiasmus	A figure of speech that presents two things in an order then presents them again but reversed	24
7402861877	Consonance	The repetition of consonant sounds	25
7402861878	Cosmic Irony	The idea that a higher-than-human force toys with human hopes or is indifferent to them	26
7402861879	Slippery Slope	A fallacy that states that something should not be done because doing so will lead to something bad happening as a result	27
7402861880	Straw Man	A fallacy that misrepresents or changes an argument to make it easier to attack	28
7402861881	Rhetorical question	A question asked to make a point instead of getting an answer	29
7402861882	Denotation	The dictionary definition of a word; opposite of connotation	30
7402861883	Didactic	Intended or used for teaching	31
7402861884	Dramatic Irony	A situation where the audience knows something that a character doesn't	32
7402861885	Satire	Using humor or irony to criticize something	33
7402861886	Situational Irony	When the expected outcome is different from or opposite of the actual outcome	34
7402861887	Periodic sentence	A sentence whose main clause is held until the end	35
7402861888	Elegy	A written work that is negative or lamenting	36
7402861889	Epigram	A statement that is short, clever, and memorable; a witticism	37
7402861890	Epistrophe	Repeating a word or phrase at the end of multiple clauses; opposite of anaphora	38
7402861891	Red Herring	Something that abandons or misleads something else, also a fallacy	39
7402861892	Rhetoric	The art of effective and persuasive writing	40
7402861893	Oxymoron	A figure of speech that intentionally contradicts itself	41
7402861894	Epithet	An adjective following a nickname	42
7402861895	Ethos	A persuasive appeal to ethics; similar to an appeal to authority	43
7402861896	Euphemism	Substituting a term for another that is more offensive	44
7402861897	Hamartia	The fatal flaw or shortcoming of a protagonist that leads to their failure in tragedy	45
7402861898	Paradox	A self-contradictory phrase that is true on further inspection	46
7402861899	Parallelism	Repeated use of literary elements that are similar or exactly the same	47
7402861900	Pathos	An appeal to emotion	48
7402861901	Metonymy	A figure of speech where something is referred to by another thing that is very similar	49
7402861902	Hasty Generalization	A fallacy in which a conclusion about an entire population is drawn from an insufficient sample size	50
7402861903	Hubris	Excessive pride	51
7402861904	Motif	A central or recurrent pattern in and between work	52
7402861905	Non-sequitur	A conclusion that does not follow from the given facts	53
7402861906	Hyperbole	Exaggeration; opposite of understatement	54
7402861907	Litotes	A figure of speech in which something is seen as positive by negating its negative qualities; often uses double negatives	55
7402861908	Logos	An appeal to logic	56
7402861909	Malapropism	Use of an incorrect word in the place of a word that sounds similar	57