Note that all theories of Meaning necessarily have a concept of "literal language" (see Literal And Figurative Language ). Under theories that do not, ''figure of speech'' is not an entirely Coherent Concept .
As an example of the figurative use of a word, consider the sentence, ''I am going to crown you.'' It may mean:
- I am going to place a literal crown on your head.
- I am going to symbolically exalt you to the place of kingship.
- I am going to put a second checker piece on top of your checker piece to signify that it has become a king (as in the game of Checkers ).
- I am going to punch you in the head with my clenched fist.
Scholars of classical Western rhetoric have divided figures of speech into two main categories: schemes and tropes. (from the Greek ''schēma'', form or shape) are figures of speech in which there is a deviation from the ordinary or expected pattern of words. For example, the phrase, "John, my best friend" uses the scheme known as Apposition . '''Tropes''' (from the Greek ''tropein'', to turn) involve changing or modifying the general meaning of a term. An example of a trope is the use of irony, which is the use of word in a way that conveys a meaning opposite to its usual meaning ("For Brutus is an honorable man; / So, are they all, honorable men").
During the Renaissance , a time when scholars in every discipline had a passion for classifying all things, writers expended a great deal of energy in devising all manner of classes and sub-classes of figures of speech. Henry Peacham , for example, in his ''The Garden of Eloquence'' (1577) enumerated 184 different figures of speech.
For the sake of simplicity, this article divides the figures between schemes and Tropes , but does not attempt further sub-classification (e.g., "Figures of Disorder"). Within each category, words are listed alphabetically. Each figure links to a page that provides greater detail and relevant examples, but a short definition is placed here for convenience. Some of those listed may be considered Rhetorical Device s, which are similar in many ways.
See Also: Rhyme scheme
- Accumulation : Summarization of previous arguments in a forceful manner
- Adnominatio : Repetition of a word with a change in letter or sound
- Alliteration : A series of words that begin with the same letter or sound alike
- Anacoluthon : A change in the syntax within a sentence
- Anadiplosis : Repetition of a word at the end of a clause at the beginning of another
- Anaphora : The repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses
- Anastrophe : Inversion of the usual word order
- Anticlimax : the arrangement of words in order of decreasing importance
- Antimetabole : Repetition of words in successive clauses, in reverse order
- Antistrophe : The repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses
- Antithesis : The juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas
- Aphorismus : statement that calls into question the definition of a word
- Aposiopesis : Breaking off or pausing speech for dramatic or emotional effect
- Apostrophe : Directing the attention away from the audience and to a personified abstraction
- Apposition : The placing of two elements side by side, in which the second defines the first
- Assonance : The repetition of vowel sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse
- Asteismus : Facetious or mocking answer that plays on a word
- Asyndeton : Omission of conjunctions between related clauses
- Cacophony : The juxtaposition of words producing a harsh sound
- Classification (literature & Grammar) : linking a proper noun and a common noun with an article
- Chiasmus : Reversal of grammatical structures in successive clauses
- Climax : The arrangement of words in order of increasing importance
- Consonance : The repetition of consonant sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse
- Diorimazeau
- Ellipsis : Omission of words
- Enallage : The substitution of forms that are grammatically different, but have the same meaning
- Enthymeme : Informal method of presenting a syllogism
- Epanalepsis : Repetition of the initial word or words of a clause or sentence at the end of the clause or sentence.
- Epistrophe : The counterpart of anaphora
- - i.e. pleasant sounding
- Hendiadys : Use of two nouns to express an idea when the normal structure would be a noun and a modifier
- Hendiatris : Use of three nouns to express one idea
- Hypallage : Changing the order of words so that they are associated with words normally associated with others
- Hyperbaton : Schemes featuring unusual or inverted word order
- Isocolon : Use of parallel structures of the same length in successive clauses
- Internal Rhyme : Using two or more rhyming words in the same sentence
- compound where the terms together form a sort of Synecdoche
- Non Sequitur : a statement that bears no relationship to the context preceding
- Merism : Referring to a whole by enumerating some of its parts
- Parallelism : The use of similar structures in two or more clauses
- Paraprosdokian : Unexpected ending or truncation of a clause
- Parenthesis : Insertion of a clause or sentence in a place where it interrupts the natural flow of the sentence
- paroemion: A resolute alliteration in which every word in a sentence or phrase begins with the same letter
- Parrhesia : Speaking openly or boldly, or apologizing for doing so (declaring to do so)
- Perissologia : The fault of wordiness
- Pleonasm : The use of superfluous or redundant words
- Polyptoton : Repetition of words derived from the same root
- Polysyndeton : Repetition of conjunctions
- Pun : When a word or phrase is used in two different senses
- Synchysis : Interlocked word order
- Synesis : An agreement of words according to the sense, and not the grammatical form
- Synizesis : The pronunciation of two juxtaposed vowels or diphthongs as a single sound
- Synonymia : The use of two or more synonyms in the same clause or sentence
- Tautology : Redundancy due to superfluous qualification; saying the same thing twice
- Tmesis : Division of the elements of a compound word
See Also: Trope (linguistics)
- in which a story is told to illustrate an important attribute of the subject
- Allusion : An indirect reference to another work of literature or art
- Anacoenosis : Posing a question to an audience, often with the implication that it shares a common interest with the speaker
- in which a word is repeated in two different senses
- Anthimeria : The substitution of one part of speech for another, often turning a noun into a verb
- Antiphrasis : A word or words used contradictory to their usual meaning, often with irony
- Antonomasia : The substitution of a phrase for a proper name or vice versa
- Aphorism : A tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion, an adage
- Apophasis : Invoking an idea by denying its invocation
- Aporia : Deliberating with oneself, often with the use of rhetorical questions
- Apostrophe : Addressing a thing, an abstraction or a person not present
- Archaism : Use of an obsolete, archaic, word(a word used in olden language, e.g. Shakespeare's language)
- , in which a more important sounding word is used in place of a more descriptive term
- (sometimes used by design and sometimes a rhetorical fault)
- or Periphrasis
- Commiseration : Evoking pity in the audience.
- .
- .
- Euphemism : Substitution of a less offensive or more agreeable term for another
- Hermeneia : Repetition for the purpose of interpreting what has already been said
- Hyperbole : Use of exaggerated terms for emphasis
- at length
- Hysteron Proteron : Reversal of anticipated order of events
- Innuendo : Having a hidden meaning in a sentence that makes sense whether it is detected or not
- Invocation : An apostrophe to a god or muse
- Irony : Use of word in a way that conveys a meaning opposite to its usual meaning
- Litotes : Emphasizing the magnitude of a statement by denying its opposite
- Malapropism : Using a word through confusion with a word that sounds similar
- Meiosis : Use of understatement, usually to diminish the importance of something
- Metalepsis : Referring to something through reference to another thing to which it is remotely related
- Metaphor : An implied comparison of two unlike things
- Metonymy : Substitution of a word to suggest what is really meant
- .
- Onomatopoeia : Words that sound like their meaning
- Oxymoron : Using two terms together, that normally contradict each other
- told as an anecdote to illustrate or teach a moral lesson
- Paradox : Use of apparently contradictory ideas to point out some underlying truth
- Paralipsis : Drawing attention to something while pretending to pass it over
- , in which words similar in sound but with different meanings are used
- Pathetic Fallacy : Using a word that refers to a human action on something non-human
- Periphrasis : Substitution of a word or phrase for a proper name
- Personification /prosopopoeia/anthropomorphism: Attributing applying human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena
- Procatalepsis : Refuting anticipated objections as part of the main argument
- in which the speaker provides great detail while feigning to pass over a topic
- Rhetorical Question : Asking a question as a way of asserting something. Or asking a question not for the sake of getting an answer but for asserting something (or as for in a poem for creating a poetic effect).
- Simile : An explicit comparison between two things
- , in which a single word is used to modify two other words, with which it normally would have differing meanings
- syncatabasis ("condescension, accommodation"): adaptation of style to the level of the audience
- , in which a part stands for the whole
- Synesthesia : The description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another.
- Transferred Epithet : The placing of an adjective with what appears to be the incorrect noun
- Truism : a self-evident statement
- Tricolon Diminuens : A combination of three elements, each decreasing in size
- Tricolon Crescens : A combination of three elements, each increasing in size
- , but different in that the word used as a modifier is not compatible with one of the two words it modifies
- Zoomorphism : applying animal characteristics to humans or gods
- Aristotle , ''The Art of Rhetoric'', (Translated by J. H. Freese ), Loeb Classical Library.
- Baldwin, Charles Sears, ''Ancient Rhetoric and Poetic: Interpreted from Representative Works'', Peter Smith, Gloucester, 1959 (reprint).
- ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'', (Translated by Henry Caplan) Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1954.
- Corbett, Edward P.J., ''Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student'' Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
- Kennedy, George, ''Art of Persuasion in Greece''. Princeton Univ Press, 1969 (4th printing).
- Lanham , Richard A., ''A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms'', Berkeley, University of California Press, 1991.
- Mackin, John H. ''Classical Rhetoric for Modern Discourse'', Free Press, New York, 1969.
- Quintilian . ''Institutio oratoria'', (In five volumes, trans. Donald A. Russell) Loeb Classical Library, 2002.
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