Figures of speech Alliteration The repetition of an initial consonant sound, as in "a peck of pickled peppers." Adjective: alliterative.

Anaphora A rhetorical term for the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. "I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun." (Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, 1940) Antithesis A rhetorical term for the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses. Plural: antitheses. Adjective: antithetical. "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." (Goethe) Apostrophe A figure of speech in which some absent or nonexistent person or thing is addressed as if present and capable of understanding. (For the mark of punctuation, see apostrophe [punctuation].) "Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again . . .." (Paul Simon, "The Sounds of Silence") Assonance The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words. Adjective: assonant. "Flash with a rash gimme my cash flickin' my ash Runnin with my money, son, go out with a blast." (Busta Rhymes, "Gimme Some More") Chiasmus In rhetoric, a verbal pattern (a type of antithesis) in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed. Essentially the same as antimetabole. Adjective: chiastic. "You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget." (Cormac McCarthy, The Road, 2006) Euphemism The substitution of an inoffensive term (such as "passed away") for one considered offensively explicit ("died"). Contrast with dysphemism. Adjective: euphemistic. Dr. House: Who were you going to kill in Bolivia? My old housekeeper? Dr. Terzi: We don't kill anyone. Dr. House: I'm sorry--who were you going to marginalize? ("Whatever It Takes," House, M.D.) Hyperbole A figure of speech (a form of irony) in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; an extravagant statement. Adjective: hyperbolic. Contrast with understatement. "I was helpless. I did not know what in the world to do. I was quaking from head to foot, and could have hung my hat on my eyes, they stuck out so far." (Mark Twain, "Old Times on the Mississippi") Irony The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; a statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea. "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room." (Peter Sellers as President Merkin Muffley in Dr. Strangelove, 1964) Litotes A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite. "The grave's a fine a private place, But none, I think, do there embrace."

(Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress") Metaphor A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common. Adjective: metaphorical. "The rain came down in long knitting needles." (Enid Bagnold, National Velvet) Metonymy A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty"). "The White House asked the television networks for air time on Monday night." Onomatopoeia The use of words (such as hiss or murmur) that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Adjective: onomatopoeic or onomatopoetic. "I'm getting married in the morning! Ding dong! the bells are gonna chime." (Lerner and Loewe, "Get Me to the Church on Time," My Fair Lady) Oxymoron A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side; a compressed paradox. Adjective: oxymoronic or oxymoric. "Health food makes me sick." (Calvin Trillin) Paradox A figure of speech in which a statement appears to contradict itself. Adjective: paradoxical. "War is peace." "Freedom is slavery." "Ignorance is strength." (George Orwell, 1984) Personification A figure of speech (generally considered a type of metaphor) in which an inanimate object or abstraction is given human qualities or abilities. "The road isn't built that can make it breathe hard!" (slogan for Chevrolet automobiles) Pun A play on words, either on different senses of the same word or on the similar sense or sound of different words. Also known as paronomasia. "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." (Groucho Marx) Simile A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by like or as. "you fit into me like a hook into an eye a fish hook an open eye" (Margaret Atwood) Synecdoche A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole (for example, ABCs for alphabet) or the whole for a part ("England won the World Cup in 1966"). "In the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada won 14 gold medals." Understatement A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is. "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain." (Holden Caulfield in The Catcher In The Rye, by J. D. Salinger)