FIGURES OF SPEECH MEANING
Alliteration The repeating of consonant
sounds right next to each
other, which creates a
memorable or melodic effect.
Allusion The act of alluding is to make
indirect reference. It is a
literary device, a figure of
speech that quickly
stimulates different ideas and
associations using only a
couple of words.
TYPES
 Historical
 Mythological
 Literary  “No matter how Dorian adjusted the
 Religious
Anaphora The repetition of the same
word or phrase at the
beginning of successive
clauses or verses. (Contrast
with epiphora and
epistrophe.)
Antanaclasis It is a rhetorical device in
which a word is repeated and
EXAMPLE
She sells Seashells by the Seashore.
David was such a scrooge! (Scrooge"
is the allusion, and it refers to Charles
Dicken's novel, A Christmas Carol.
Scrooge was very greedy and unkind,
which David was being compared to.)
“He was a Nero” suggests disturbing
behaviour like that from the infamous
Roman emperor.
“She ran faster than Hermes.” – the
messenger of the Greek gods.
electric blanket it was either too hot or
too cold, never just right.” –
Goldilocks.
“reflecting on her cruel behaviour,
Cinderella’s stepmother stood still like
a pillar of salt.” – A phrase taken from
the story of *Lot's wife according to
the book of Genesis (19: 24), Lot's
wife disobeyed God's order not to
look back at the burning city of
Sodom, and as a punishment was
turned into a pillar of salt
I came, I saw, I conquered – Julius
Caesar
Your argument is sound, nothing but
sound. – Benjamin Franklin.
 whose meaning changes in
the second instance.
Anticlimax A figure of speech in which
statements gradually
descend in order of
importance.
Antiphrasis A figure of speech in which a
word or phrase is used to
mean the opposite of its
normal meaning to create
ironic humorous effect.
Antithesis The juxtaposition of
contrasting ideas in balanced
phrases
Apostrophe Breaking off discourse to
address some absent person
or thing, some abstract
quality, an inanimate object,
or a nonexistent character
Assonance Identity or similarity in sound
between internal vowels in
neighboring words.
Cataphora Refers to a figure of speech
where an earlier expression
refers to or describes a
forward expression.
Cataphora is the opposite of
anaphora, a reference
forward as opposed to
backward in the discourse.
Chiasmus A verbal pattern in which the
second half of an expression
is balanced against the first
but with the parts reversed.
The word sound in the first instance
means solid or reasonable. The
second instance of sound means
empty.
She is a (1) great writer, (2) a mother
and (3) a good humorist.
She's so beautiful. She has an
attractive long nose.
(In the first line she dictates that she
is beautiful, while in the second line it
contradicts its statement claiming that
the person has a long nose, which
some people do not fine attractive)
Many are called but a few are chosen
"O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of
earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these
butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times."
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3,
Scene 1
"The crumbling thunder of seas" –
Robert Louis Stevenson
“If you want some, there's coffee in
the pot."
When the going gets tough, the tough
get going
Climax Successive words, phrases, Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a
clauses, or sentences are plane! It's Superman!
arranged in ascending order
of importance
Dysphemism The use of a harsh, more You are a toad, but I love you
offensive word instead of one anyway.
considered less harsh.
Dysphemism is often (This example is a dysphemistic
contrasted with euphemism euphemism, a mockery used
between close friends or family which
holds no animosity or anger; it is
more a term of endearment.)
Ellipsis Refers to the omission of a From
word or words. It refers to “After school I went to her house,
constructions in which words which was a few blocks away, and
are left out of a sentence but then came home."
the sentence can still be
understood. To
“After school I went to her house …
and then came home."
Euphemism The substitution of an Going to the other side = death
inoffensive term for one Passed away = die
considered offensively
explicit.
Hyperbole An extravagant statement; The bag weighed a ton.
the use of exaggerated terms
for the purpose of emphasis
or heightened effect.
Irony The use of words to convey His argument was as clear as mud.
the opposite of their literal
meaning. A statement or
situation where the meaning
is contradicted by the
appearance or presentation
of the idea.
Litotes A form of understatement in It’s not the best weather today
which a sentiment is (saying this during a hurricane)
expressed ironically, by
negating its contrary. (Must
contain negative statement)
Merism Something is referred to by a
conventional phrase that
enumerates several of its
constituents or traits
Metaphor Describes an object or action
in a way that isn’t LITERALLY
true, but helps explain an
idea or make a comparison.
Metalepsis Reference is made to
something by means of
another thing that is remotely
related to it, either through a
casual, or through another
figure of speech.
Metonomy (Greek metōnymia which
means “change name” or
“misnomer/contradiction”) An
object or concept is replaced
with a word closely related to
or suggested by the original,
as “crown” to mean “king”
Onomatopoeia The use of words that imitate
the sounds associated with
the objects
Oxymoron Contradictory terms appear
side by side
Paradox A statement that appears to
contradict itself
Personification An inanimate oject or
abstraction is endowned with
human qualities or abilities
Pun A play on words, sometimes
on different senses of the
- Flesh and Bone (Referring to the
Body)
- Search every nook and cranny
(Search everywhere)
- Love is a battlefield (stating that
love is difficult compared to
battlefield)
- Baby you’re a couch potato
(couch potato like someone who
been sitting on the couch for a
while)
- The early bird catches the worm
- A lead foot is driving behind me.
(This refers to someone who
drives fast. This metalepsis is
achieved only through a cause
and effect relationship. Lead is
heavy and a heavy foot would
press the accelerator, and this
would cause the car to speed.)
- King = Crown (The power of the
crown was mortally weakened)
- Author = His work (I’m studying
“Shakespeare” right now)
- Clap
- Murmur
- Boom
- Pow
- Dark Light
- Living Dead
- Drowning in the fountain of eternal
life
- Deep down, you’re really shallow.
- My alarm yelled at me this
morning.
- I like onions, but they don’t like
me.
- Atheism is non-prophet institution
(The word “prophet” is put in place
 same word and sometimes of its homophone “profit”, altering
on the similar sense or sound the common phrase “non-profit
or different words. institution)

Simile Comparing two unlike things - Life is like a box of chocolates:

that is often introduced by like you never know which one you’re
or as (as in cheeks like roses) going to get.
- Has “like”
- Has “as”
Synecdoche A part is used to present the - All hands on deck (hands =
whole. workers)
Tautology An expression or phrase that - The evening sunset was beautiful
says the same thing twice,
just in a different way.

VERBAL TAUTOLOGY - I went to see him personally

- Involves a few words that
mean the same thing.

LOGICAL TAUTOLOGY - Either the dog is brown or the dog

- Something that is true in is not brown.
all circumstances. This
can be done by using an
either/or statement in
such a way that the
statement cannot be false.
Understatement A writer or speaker “The grave’s a fine and private place,
deliberately makes a situation But none, I think, do there embrace.”
seem less important or
serious than it is. (Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy
Mistress”)