Figurative Language Definitions

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Allusion

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A well-known reference to a person, place, thing, literary work, historical event, etc. (Example: He was a real Romeo with the ladies or Chocolate was her Achilles’ heel)

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Analogy

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A comparison to show a similarity between two things that are otherwise dissimilar

(Example: Comparing the inner workings of a computer’s circuit board to a busy

highway)

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Situational Irony

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The expectation of one event or action, which turns out to be the exact opposite of what was expected to occur (Example: An ambulance is expected to help someone who is injured, but it runs over the injured person instead, causing injury)

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Verbal Irony

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What is said by a speaker/character is the exact opposite of what is actually meant by the speaker/character; sarcasm (Example: When someone responds to something that is not nice by saying, “Well isn’t that nice!”)

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Dramatic Irony

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When the audience/reader knows more than some of the characters within a story/piece of literature. This is most often used in a play/drama when the audience/readers are privy to information that other characters are oblivious to or unaware of (Example: In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is devastated by her father’s hasty decision to hand her over in marriage to the County Paris, whom she does not love, when she is already secretly married to Romeo, the son of her family’s rival, the Montague family. The audience is already aware that Juliet is now married to Romeo at this point in the play, and therefore ______is used when she says to her mother that she would rather marry Romeo whom she ‘hates’ [although she actually loves him deeply, and she says this to make it seem like Romeo is still an enemy to her and the Capulet family], than to go through with marrying Paris.)

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Simile

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A comparison between two seemingly unlike things using a connective word such as “like” or “as” (Example: Her love was like the heavy fog of a spring morning or His voice was as melodious as a nightingale’s song).

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Metaphor

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A comparison between two seemingly unlike things without using “like” or “as” (Example: The river is a speeding train moving forward without stopping).

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Imagery

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A mental picture created by a writer using concrete details, adjectives, and figurative language that appeal to the five senses, which gives readers a vivid impression of what or who is being described (Example: The convict in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations is described as “a fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg, who cackled ominously, causing a terrifying chill to run down my spine”).

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Symbolism

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Often, a concrete object used to represent an abstract idea or concept (Example: Andy’s Royals jacket from the short story, “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” symbolizes his desire to belong to a group and his identity as a gang member).

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Hyperbole

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An exaggerated statement used to heighten effect and to emphasize a point (Example: I’ve said that a million times or The Grinch`s heart grew three sizes bigger that day).

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Oxymoron

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Using two contrasting terms, side by side (Example: bitter sweet, virtual reality, awfully good, etc.)

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Onomatopoeia

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The formation or use of words with meanings that are connected to their sounds (Example: the word buzz suggests the noise of a bee; other examples include boo, hiss, swish, etc.)

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Alliteration

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A group of words that begin with the same consonant sound. It can help make the writing memorable, more rhythmic, and reinforce underlying meaning (Example: The sun sank slowly in the sky).

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Assonance

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The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, especially in the stressed syllables of neighbouring words (Example: The mellow wedding bells)

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Personification

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A description whereby human attributes are given to inanimate objects (Example: The tree bowed with great dignity or And the dish ran away with the spoon)

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Idiom

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A commonly used expression that does not literally mean what its words suggest (Example: She spilled the beans or It is raining cats and dogs)

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Pun

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A form ofword playwhich suggests two or more meanings by exploiting multiple meanings of words or of similar-sounding words for an intended humorousorrhetoricaleffect (Example: The origami artist won the court cast because he was good with paperwork or The butcher was trying so hard to be funny, but he just wasn’t making the cut)

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