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Euphemism
Euphemism is a figure of speech where an offensive word or expression is
replaced with a polite word.
For example: David: Do you have a few minutes?
Ryan: No, I'm busy.
David: Ok, listen...
Ryan: No, you listen, when I said 'busy', I meant leave me the hell alone.
Assonance
Assonance is a repetition of the vowel sounds. Such a figure of speech is
found most commonly in short sentences or verses.
For example: And murmuring of innumerable bees.
Idiom
An idiom is a phrase, expression or group of words whose implication is not
clear when you go by the literal meaning of words.
For example: As easy as pie, at the eleventh hour, pull someone's leg, etc.
Funny Metaphors
Funny metaphors are metaphors that ring aloud with humor.
For example: That's like trying to thread a needle with a haystack.
Allusion
An allusion is an indirect or subtle reference made about a person, place or
thing in a work of literature.
For example: I am no Prince Hamlet.
Antecedent
An antecedent, in grammar, is a word, a phrase, or a clause that is usually
replaced by a pronoun in a sentence, but regularly so in a following sentence.
For example: When I arrived to meet Caleb, he wasn't to be seen.
Jargon
Jargon is the kind of language that is specific to a particular trade, occupation,
professionals or group of people.
For example: I need your vitals.
Double Negative
A double negative is a figure of speech that occurs when two negative words
or two forms of negation are used in one sentence.
For example: I won't not use no ladder to climb the building.
Adjunction
An adjunction is a phrase or a clause that is placed at the start of a sentence.
An adjunction, in most cases, is a verb.
For example: Runs the leopard past us as we stray deeper into his territory.
Antithesis
An antithesis is a figure of speech where two very opposing lines of thought or
ideas are placed in a somewhat balanced sentenced.
For example: Man proposes: God disposes.
Apostrophe
An apostrophe is used when a person who is absent or nonexistent is spoken
to.
For example: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky."
Climax
In a climax, the words are placed in an ascending order, depending on their
significance. These words generally revolve around a central theme and are
arranged in an increasing order to create a strong impression on the mind of
the reader.
For example: "There are three things that will endure: faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love." - 1 Corinthians 13:13
Metonymy
A metonymy is a figure of speech where one word or phrase is used in place
of another. With metonymies, a name of a particular thing is substituted with
the name of a thing that is closely related to it.
For example: "We have always remained loyal to the crown."
Oxymoron
Oxymoron involves the usage of contradictory terms to describe an object,
situation or incident.
For example: open secret, tragic comedy, exact estimate, original copies, etc.
Synecdoche
This is figure of speech where a part of a particular object is employed to
throw light on the whole thing.
For example: Describing a whole vehicle as just "wheels".
Stereotype
A stereotype, as far as the figures of speech are concerned, is a convention, a
predisposition or a set approach to any particular issue.
For example: All blondes are dumb.
Anastrophe
An anastrophe refers to an inversion or rearrangement of a group of words
that usually appear in a certain order.
For example: Gold that glitters is not all that not. (All that glitters is gold)
Anaphora
An anaphora is an expression, which refers to another and can be
ambiguous.
For example: The tiger ate the snake and it died. Longfellow
Antonomasia
This figure of speech uses the name of a person on another person or
persons possessing characteristics that are similar to the characteristics of the
former.
For example: He was the Adolf Hitler of the school.
Litotes
Litotes are nothing but an understatement. It can be used when you are
looking to underplay a positive with a negative.
For example: The food at that restaurant is not bad at all.
Paralipsis
A paralipsis is a figure of speech that focuses on any particular thing without
really making it obvious.
For example: I know who ate the last apple, but I will not mention Karen's
name.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric in writing refers to an unexplained and undue use of exaggeration.
For example: When I reached the peak of the mountain, I stretched out my
hands, touched heaven and took a quick look at the Almighty!
Zeugma
Zeugma refers to the employment of a word to bridge two or more words, but
here the word makes sense to one word or all words in dissimilar ways.
For example: She lowered her standards by raising her glass, her courage,
her eyes and his hopes.
Anticlimax
An anticlimax as a figure speech refers to the building up a climax that results
in something that cannot really be described as a climax.
For example: On discovering that his friend was murdered, with vengeance on
his mind Ravi rushed back to his college, only to find his friend sipping on
coffee in the college canteen.
Consonance
Consonance refers to the repetition of consonant sounds, within the limits of a
sentence or a certain number of sentences.
For example: "Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the
village though; He will not see me stopping here. To watch his woods fill up
with snow." - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
Irony
Irony is used to stress on the opposite meaning of a word. When people are
looking to be sarcastic, they employ irony.
For example: He was so intelligent, that he failed all his tests.
Polysyndeton
Polysyndeton refers to that figure of speech which makes good use of
conjunctions and in close succession.
For example: He ran and jumped and laughed for joy.
Rhetorical Question
Antimetabole
An antimetabole is a figure of speech, where the second half of a sentence,
phrase or series is in the exact opposite order of the first part.
For example, E,F,G - G,F,E
Epistrophe
Epistrophe or epiphora is the repetition of the same word or words at the end
of consecutive phrases, clauses or sentences. It is extremely emphatic and is
usually employed to stress the last word in a phrase or sentence.
For example, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared
to what lies within us." -Emerson
Understatement
Understatement is a figure of speech that is used to undermine the due
importance of a statement.
For example, "A soiled baby, with a neglected nose, cannot be conscientiously
regarded as a thing of beauty." - (Mark Twain)
Chiasmus
hiasmus is another important figure of speech wherein two or more clauses
are joined together through a reversing the syntax to convey a bigger point.
For example, "I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me." - (Ovid)
Epithet
An epithet can be best defined as a descriptive title that commonly involves a
word or a phrase that is used in lieu of the real name.
For example: Alexander the Great.
Verbal Irony
Verbal irony is one of the most commonly employed tropes in literature that is
pregnant with hidden connotations and usually has more to eat than meets
the eye. It usually denotes the opposite of what is expressed.
For example: "Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man." - Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
False Analogy
An elaborate comparison of two dissimilar things is called false analogy.
For example: There has to be life on other planets because as of today no