Figures of speech

thumb|upright=1.35|1835 etching by George Cruikshank illustrating the metaphor of describing strong weather as "raining cats, dogs and pitchforks" A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for literary effect, refers to one thing by mentioning another. Thus, it invites the audience to make a comparison between two normally unrelated entities or ideas, which may provide clarity or identify hidden similarities between them. Metaphors are usually meant to create a likeness or an analogy.

thumb|Pearl, miniature from Pearl Manuscript|Cotton Nero A.x. The dreamer stands on the other side of the stream from the Pearl-maiden. Pearl is one of the greatest allegories from the [[High Middle Ages.]] As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughout history in all forms of art to illustrate or convey complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers

thumb|Sign at a Rite Aid drugstore using common euphemisms for (from top): |alt=A yellow sign with a pointed bottom. At the top is the number 5 in an oval with a blue background. Below it are the words "family planning", "feminine hygiene", "feminine protection" and "sanitary protection"

thumb|The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the [[United States Department of Defense and is a common metonym for the US military and its leadership]] Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly seen wearing business attire, such as business executives, bankers, or lawyers.

thumb|Actor Christopher Walken performing a monologue in the 1984 stage play [[Hurlyburly]] In theatre, a monologue (also spelled monolog in American English) (in , from μόνος mónos, "alone, solitary" and λόγος lógos, "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media (plays, films, etc.), as well as in non-dramatic media such as poetry, and stand-up comedy. Monologues share much in common with several other litera

thumb|The Madonna album Like a Virgin, in whose title track the narrative persona uses a simile, professing to be experiencing an erotic relationship "like a virgin". A simile () is a type of figure of speech that directly compares two unrelated things, using wording to explicitly make the comparison (often, with a grammatical structure of the type "x is like y"). It is usually understood specifically to entail figurative comparison: thus "a wolf is like a dog" is merely a literal comparison, whereas the figurative "a man is like a wolf" is a simile. In the words of Michael Israel, Jennifer Ri

alt=Written on a wooden desk, "You will die someday" a response is next to it.|thumb|A sarcastic response written on a table that reads "Wow, you are SO deep!"

thumb|upright=1.35|Set of porcelain figures of personifications of the [[four continents, Germany, , from left: Asia, Europe, Africa, and America. Of these, Africa has retained her classical attributes. Formerly James Hazen Hyde collection.]] Personification is the representation of any thing, being, or abstraction as a person or with person-like qualities. In the arts and as a literary device, personification is common for: places, especially cities, countries, and continents; elements of the natural world, such as trees, the seasons, the traditional "four elements", the four cardinal winds,

thumb|A common example of synecdoche: using the term boots to mean "soldiers", as in the phrase "boots on the ground".

Pleonasm (; , ) is redundancy in linguistic expression, such as "black darkness", "burning fire", or "the man he said". It is a manifestation of tautology by traditional rhetorical criteria. Pleonasm may also be used for emphasis, or because the phrase has become established in a certain form. Tautology and pleonasm are not consistently differentiated in literature.

thumb|The mythological Greek hero Orion (mythology)|Orion is the eponym of the constellation Orion, shown here, and thus indirectly of the Orion spacecraft.

Antithesis (: antitheses; Greek for "setting opposite", from "against" and "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together for contrasting effect.

Allusion, or alluding, is a figure of speech that makes a reference to someone or something (a person, object, location, etc.) without mentioning it by name or without explaining how it relates to the given context, so that the audience must realize the connection in their own minds. When a connection is directly and explicitly explained (as opposed to indirectly implied), it is instead often simply termed a reference. In the arts, a literary allusion puts the alluded text in a new context under which it assumes new meanings and denotations. Literary allusion is closely related to parody and p

thumb|Supermarket aisle sign in Calgary, Canada, in 2025, showing apocope of -ed in etymological canned meat and canned vegetables but not in Mexican

In rhetoric, litotes (, ), is a figure of speech and form of irony to emphasize a point by stating a negative to affirm a positive. In speech, litotes may depend on intonation and emphasis; for example, the phrase "not bad" can be intonated differently so as to mean either "mediocre" or "excellent". The interpretation of negation may also depend on context, including cultural context. Litotes can be used euphemistically to diminish the harshness of an observation: "He isn't the cleanest person I know" could be used to indicate that someone is a messy person. A form of understatement, litotes

In rhetoric, antonomasia is a kind of metonymy in which an epithet or phrase takes the place of a proper name, such as "the little corporal" for Napoleon I, or conversely the use of a proper name as an archetypal name, to express a generic idea. A frequent instance of antonomasia in the Late Middle Ages and early Renaissance was the use of the term "the Philosopher" to refer to Aristotle.

rhetoric

Circumlocution (also called circumduction, circumvolution, periphrasis, kenning, or ambage) is the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea. It is sometimes necessary in communication (for example, to work around lexical gaps that might otherwise lead to untranslatability), but it can also be undesirable (when an uncommon or easily misunderstood figure of speech is used). It can also come in the form of roundabout speech wherein many words are used to describe something that already has a common and concise term (for example, saying "a tool used for cutting things such

thumb|An example of spoonerism on a protest placard in London: "Buck Frexit" instead of "Fuck [[Brexit"]] A spoonerism is an occurrence of speech in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words of a phrase. These are named after the Oxford don and priest William Archibald Spooner, who reportedly commonly spoke in this way.

false clue that misleads or distracts attention away from a relevant or important question

Epistrophe (, "return") is the repetition of the same word or words at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences. It is also known as epiphora and occasionally as antistrophe. It is a figure of speech and the counterpart of anaphora. It is an extremely emphatic device because of the emphasis placed on the last word in a phrase or sentence.

In linguistics, an elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. However, these terms are also used to refer more narrowly to cases where two words are run together by the omission of a final sound. An example is the elision of word-final /t/ in English if it is preceded and followed by a consonant: "first light" is often pronounced "firs' light" (). Many other terms are used to refer to specific cases where sounds are omitted.

In philosophy, an aporia () is a conundrum or state of puzzlement. In rhetoric, it is a declaration of doubt, made for rhetorical purpose and often feigned. The notion of an aporia is principally found in ancient Greek philosophy, but it also plays a role in modern post-structuralist philosophy, as in the writings of Jacques Derrida and Luce Irigaray, and it has also served as an instrument of investigation in analytic philosophy.

In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the first syllable (prothesis), the last syllable (paragoge), or between two syllabic sounds in a word. The opposite process in which one or more sounds are removed is referred to as syncope or elision.

address to a person often not present or a personified object

Anadiplosis ( ; , anadíplōsis, "a doubling, folding up") is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. The word is used at the end of a sentence and then used again at the beginning of the next sentence, often to create climax.

loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a word, especially the loss of an unstressed vowel

linguistic process whereby weak phonemes disappear from words

Polysyndeton (from Ancient Greek and ) is the insertion of repeated conjunctions into a sentence for deliberate effect, especially to slow the rhythm of the prose so as to produce an impressively solemn note.

Asyndeton (, ; from the , sometimes called asyndetism) is a literary scheme in which one or several conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples include veni, vidi, vici and its English translation "I came, I saw, I conquered". Its use can have the effect of speeding up the rhythm of a passage and making a single idea more memorable. Asyndeton may be contrasted with syndeton (syndetic coordination) and polysyndeton, which describe the use of one or multiple coordinating conjunctions, respectively.

In rhetoric, chiasmus ( ) or, less commonly, chiasm (Latin term from Greek , "crossing", from the Greek , , "to shape like the letter Χ"), is a "reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses – but no repetition of words".

An anacoluthon (; from the Greek , from 'not', and 'following') is an unexpected discontinuity in the expression of ideas within a sentence, leading to a form of words in which there is logical or grammatical incoherence of thought. Anacolutha are often sentences interrupted midway, where there is a change in the syntactical structure of the sentence and of intended meaning following the interruption. As rhetorical or literary device, anacoluthon may be used to demonstrate emotion or the natural patterns of spoken discourse.

Catachresis (from Greek , 'misuse'), originally meaning a semantic misuse or error, is also the name given to many different types of figures of speech in which a word or phrase is being applied in a way that significantly departs from conventional (or traditional) usage. Examples of the original meaning include using "militate" for "mitigate", "chronic" for "severe", "travesty" for "tragedy", "anachronism" for "anomaly", "alibi" for "excuse", etc. As a rhetorical figure, catachresis may signify an unexpected or implausible metaphor.

thumb|upright=1.5|A word cloud of buzzwords related to [[big data]]

figure of speech

A dysphemism is an expression with connotations that are derogatory either about the subject matter or to the audience. Dysphemisms contrast with neutral or euphemistic expressions. For example, expressing disapproval by calling a person a snake is a dysphemism. Dysphemism may be motivated by fear, distaste, hatred, contempt, humour and abuse.

phenomenon of failing to retrieve a word from memory, combined with partial recall and the feeling that retrieval is imminent

Antiphrasis is the rhetorical device of saying the opposite of what is actually meant in such a way that it is obvious what the true intention is.

thumb | right | alt=A linguistic diagram of a cataphora in German | Example of a cataphora in German In linguistics, cataphora (; from Greek, καταφορά, kataphora, "a downward motion" from κατά, kata, "downwards" and φέρω, pherō, "I carry") is the use of an expression or word that co-refers with a later, more specific expression in the discourse. The preceding expression, whose meaning is determined or specified by the later expression, may be called a cataphor. Cataphora is in contrast to anaphora which denotes cases where the order of the expressions is the reverse of that found in cataphora.

Ekphrasis or ecphrasis (from the Greek) is a rhetorical device indicating the written description of a work of art. It is a vivid, often dramatic, verbal description of a visual work of art, either real or imagined. Thus, "an ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art." In ancient times, it might refer more broadly to a description of any thing, person, or experience. The word comes from the Greek ' and ', 'out' and 'speak' respectively, and the verb '''', 'to proclaim or call an inanimate object by name'.

Orwellian is a neologism suggested in the writings by George Orwell. It is an adjective which is used to describe a situation, an idea or a societal condition, usually identified as being destructive to a free and open society. It was first used by the American author Mary McCarthy in 1950. The term denotes draconian control by propaganda, surveillance, disinformation, and denial of truth. It is commonly used in reference to Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four which describes an oppressive fictional totalitarian society where propaganda is used to manipulate the population. Orwe

thumb|upright|Sam Weller, from a watercolor by 'Joseph Clayton Clarke|Kyd' Wellerisms, named after sayings of Sam Weller in Charles Dickens's novel The Pickwick Papers, make fun of established clichés and proverbs by showing that they are wrong in certain situations, often when taken literally. In this sense, Wellerisms that include proverbs are a type of anti-proverb. Typically a Wellerism consists of three parts: a proverb or saying, a speaker, and an often humorously literal explanation.

Latin for a part (taken) for the whole

figure of speech

In rhetoric, antanaclasis (; from the , antanáklasis, meaning "reflection", from ἀντί anti, "against", ἀνά ana, "up" and κλάσις klásis "breaking") is the literary trope in which a single word or phrase is repeated, but in two different senses. Antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.

Aposiopesis (; Classical Greek: ἀποσιώπησις, "becoming silent") is a figure of speech wherein a sentence is deliberately broken off and left unfinished, the ending to be supplied by the imagination, giving an impression of unwillingness or inability to continue. An example would be the threat "Get out, or else—!" This device often portrays its users as overcome with passion (fear, anger, excitement) or modesty. To mark the occurrence of aposiopesis with punctuation, an em-rule (—) or an ellipsis (...) may be used.

Hendiadys () is a figure of speech used for emphasis—"The substitution of a conjunction for a subordination". The basic idea is to use two words linked by the conjunction "and" instead of the one modifying the other.

Apophasis (; , ) is a rhetorical device wherein the speaker or writer brings up a subject by either denying it, or denying that it should be brought up. Accordingly, it can be seen as a rhetorical relative of irony. A classic example of apophasis is "I'm not going to say that I told you so".

In linguistics, synaeresis (; also spelled syneresis) is a phonological process of sound change in which two adjacent vowels within a word are combined into a single syllable.

Tendency of people to remember pleasant events more than unpleasant ones

Polyptoton is the stylistic scheme in which different words derived from the same root (such as "strong" and "strength") are used together. A related stylistic device is antanaclasis, in which the same word is repeated, but each time with a different sense. Another related term is figura etymologica.

In rhetoric, symploce is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used successively at the beginning of two or more clauses or sentences and another word or phrase with a similar wording is used successively at the end of them. It is the combination of anaphora and epistrophe. It derives from the Greek word, meaning "interweaving".

Adynaton (; plural adynata) is a figure of speech in the form of hyperbole taken to such extreme lengths as to insinuate a complete impossibility:

Anastrophe (from the , anastrophē, "a turning back or about") is a figure of speech in which the normal word order of the subject, the verb, and the object is changed.

Name-dropping (or name-checking) is the practice of naming or alluding to important people or institutions in order to indicate one's association with them. The term often connotes an attempt to impress others; it is usually regarded negatively, and under certain circumstances may constitute a breach of professional ethics. It may be done within a conversation, a story, a song, an online identity, or other communication.

Tmesis is either the dividing of a word into two parts, with another word inserted between those parts, thus forming a compound word, or, in a broader sense, a set phrase, such as a phrasal verb, with one or more words interpolated within, thus creating a separate phrase.

Hypallage (; from the , hypallagḗ, "interchange, exchange") is a figure of speech in which the syntactic relationship between two terms is interchanged, or – more frequently – a modifier is syntactically linked to an item other than the one that it modifies semantically. The latter type of hypallage, typically resulting in the implied personification of an inanimate or abstract noun, is also called a transferred epithet.

A metaplasm is almost any kind of alteration, whether intentional or not, in the pronunciation or the orthography of a word. The change may be phonetic only, such as pronouncing Mississippi as Missippi in English, or acceptance of a new word structure, such as the transformation from calidus in Latin to caldo (hot) in Italian. Orthographic metaplasms have been used in philosophy to advance humanity's conceptual terrain, such as when Derrida adapted Heidegger's Destruktion into deconstruction or the French term différence into différance. Changes at either level may or may not be recognized in

thumb|Zoopraxiscope by British photographer [[Eadweard Muybridge. Drawn Ruade of a Donkey (1879). The epanadiplosis suggests an effect of repetition.]] Epanadiplosis (from Ancient Greek /, from /, "on", /, "again", and /, "double", "doubling in succession") is a figure of speech in which the same word is used at the end of a clause as at the beginning of a preceding clause. The opposite figure is anadiplosis. It allows for melodic and rhythmic interplay to suggest emphasis or humor. Epanadiplosis can also be used to emphasize a word, a group of words, or an idea.

Homeoteleuton, also spelled homoeoteleuton and homoioteleuton (from the Greek , homoioteleuton, "like ending"), is the repetition of endings in words. Homeoteleuton is also known as near rhyme.