35 Most Commonly Used Figures of Speech

1. ACCUMULATION is a figure of speech in which the arguments previously stated are presented again in a forceful manner.

Example: She has an attractive face, gorgeous smile, lovely hair, charming
eyes, exquisite nose, flawless skin, a gracefulness in her movements; in
short, she is divinely beautiful.

2. ADJUNCTION is a figure of speech in which a word, phrase, or clause is placed at the beginning or the end of a sentence. Kind of how
that character Yoda in “Star Wars” speak.

Example: Too lazy to find examples, I am. But get the picture, do you?

3. ADNOMINATION is the repetition of words with a change in letter or sound.

Example: She is somebody from somewhere, and she knows something. (Note: The word somebody becomes somewhere and something
upon repetition.)

4. ALLITERATION is the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words.

Example: Fresh fern fronds from the forest.

5. ALLUSION is a figure of speech that quickly stimulates different ideas and associations using only a couple of words; making indirect
reference.

Example: Describing someone as an “Adonis” males an allusion to the handsome young shepherd loved by the goddess of love and beauty
herself in the Greek myths.

6. ANAPHORA is a stylistic device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of neighboring clauses to give them
emphasis. (Parallelism )

Example: You are lovely, you are gorgeous, you are pretty, you are glorious, you are, you are, you just are!

7. ANTANACLASIS is a rhetorical device in which a word is repeated and whose meaning changes in the second instance.

Example: The excuse is sound, nothing but sound. (Note: The word sound in the first mention means “reasonable” while in the second
mention, it simply refers to the sensation in the ear. Also, nothing but sound is an expression that means “empty.”)

8. ANTICLIMAX refers to a figure of speech in which statements gradually descend in order of importance.

Example: He got back hid dignity, his job, and his company car.
In the car crash, she lost her life, her car, and her cell phone.

9. ANTIPHRASIS is 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.

Example: She is 65 years young.

10. ANTITHESIS is a figure of speech that refers to the juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas. It involves the bringing out of a
contrast in the ideas by an obvious contrast in the words, clauses, or sentences within a parallel grammatical structure.

Example: Toom nay choices, too little time.

11. APOSTROPHE is an exclamatory rhetorical figure of speech in which a speaker or writer breaks off and directs speech to an imaginary
person or abstract quality or idea.

Example: Oh moon! You have seen everything!

12. ASSONANCE is a figure of speech that refers to the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences.

Example: A certain purple curtain, captain. (Note: cer in certain, pur in purple, and cur in curtain. Also: tain in certain, curtain and
captain.)

13. CATAPHORA refers to a figure of speech where an earlier expression refers to or describes a forward expression.

Example: If you go there now, the party will start. (Note: The word there is a cataphora because it refers to party which hasn’t been
mentioned before that point.)

14. CHIASMUS is a figure of speech in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a
modified form.

Example: People must live to work, not just work to live. (Note: The phrase live to work is repeated in reverse as work to live.)

15. CLIMAX refers to a figure of speech in which words, phrases, or clauses are arranged in order of increasing importance.

Example: Three things will remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

16. DYSPHEMISM is the use of a harsh, more offensive words instead of one considered less harsh.
Example: Calling the television as “idiot box”; or a homosexual man, a “faggot”.

17. ELLIPSIS (or elliptical construction) is the omission of a word or words. It refers to constructions in which words are left out of a
sentence, often to avoid redundancy, but in a manner that a sentence can still be understood.

Example: Rizal spoke seven languages, Bonifacio only two. [Note: Bonifacio only (spoke) two (languages).]

18. EUPHEMISM is a figure of speech used to express a mild, indirect, or vague term to substitute for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term..,

Example: saying “passed away” for “died”; or “in between jobs” to mean “unemployed”

19. EPIGRAM refers to a concise, witty, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement.

Example: Oscar Wilde’s ‘I can resist everything but temptation,” or “I am not young enough to know everything.”

20. EPIPHORA (or epistrophe) is a rhetorical device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the end of neighboring clauses to give
them emphasis.

Example: “…a government of the people, by the people, for the people. (Note: the phrase the people is repeated twice after it was first
mentioned.)

21. HYPOPHORA is a figure of speech in which the speaker raises a question and then answers it.

Example: Is it a bird? No! Is it a plane? No, it’s Superman!

22. HYPERBOLE is a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to create emphasis or effect; it is not meant to be taken literally.

Example: I told you a million times to clean your room!

23. IRONY is a figure of speech in which there is a contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is really meant. It is
characterized by an incongruity, a contrast, between reality and appearance.

There are three types of irony: verbal, dramatic, and situational. Verbal irony is a contrast between what is said and what is
meant.

Example: The explanation is as clear as mud.

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or the reader knows more about the events than the characters themselves. In other words,
what the character thinks is true is incongruous with what the audience knows.

Example: One of the two identical twins tells the other, “You are so ugly!”
The pot calling the kettle black.

Situational irony refers to the contrast between the actual result of a situation and what was intended or expected to happen.

Example: The robbers stole from the police station.

24. LITOTES is a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

Example: Instead of saying that someone is “ugly,” you can say that someone is “not very pretty.”
Instead of saying that the situation is “bad,” you can say that it is “not good.”

25. MERISM is a figure of speech by which something is referred to by a conventional phrase that enumerates several of its constituents or
traits.

Example: saying “young and old” refer to the whole population or saying “flesh and bone” to mean the whole body.

26. METALEPSIS is a figure of speech in which reference is made to something by means of another thing that is remotely related to it,
either through a causal relationship, or through another figure of speech.

Example: You’ve got to catch the worm tomorrow. (Note: “The early bird catches the worm” is a common proverb advocating getting an
early start on the day to achieve success. By referring to this saying, you are compared to the bird, so that tomorrow, you will awaken early
in order to achieve success.)

27. METAPHOR is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles
apart from each other but have some characteristics common between them.

Example: The planet is your playground. The Lord is my shepherd.

28. METONYMY is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately
associated with that thing or concept.

Example: using “Malacañang” to refer to the president or the government administration or saying “a hand” to mean “help”

29. OXYMORON is a figure of speech that combines incongruous or contradictory terms.

Example: “open secret,” “virtual reality,” and “sacred profanities”

30. PERSONIFICATION is a figure of speech in which human characteristics are attributed to an abstract quality, animal, or inanimate
object.
Example: Red punctuates and makes bold statements, says something, and means it like an exclamation point!

31. PUN or (paronomasia) involves a word play that suggests two or more meanings by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of
similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. Puns are constructions used in jokes and idioms whose usage and
meaning are entirely local to a particular language and its culture.

Example: Atheism is a nonprophet institution. (Note: The word prophet is put in place of its homophone profit, changing the common
phrase nonprofit institution.)

32. SIMILE is a figure of speech directly comparing two unlike things, often introduced with the word like or as.

Example: A smile as big as the sun.

She prays like a mantis.

33. SYNECDOCHE is a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole or the whole of something is used to
represent part of it.

Example: Sixty hands voted. (Note: The part hand is used to refer to the whole person.)
The country supported the president. (Note: The word country is used to refer to part of the country, namely, most people.)

34. TAUTOLOGY is a statement that says the same thing twice in different ways, or a statement that is unconditionally true by the way it is
phrased.

Example: Free gift

Advance planning

35. UNDERSTATEMENT is a figure of speech used by writers or speakers to deliberately make a situation seem less important or serious
than it really is.

Example: A nurse about to give an injection saying, “It will sting a bit.”
To describe a disappointing experience, a participant may say, “It was different.”