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Figures of speech

Techniques > Use of language > Figures of speech

Figures of speech (or 'rhetorical tropes') are ways of using words that may seem unusual but have a specific and desired effect. Read as 'normal words' they often break normal rules of grammar, but can be nevertheless understood They are common in poetry and eloquent speech.

Some words that may fall into the general 'figures' category are more rhetorical or other devices. Anyway, here is the big list of figures of speech and related terms:

• Acoloutha: Reciprocal substitution of words.
• Accismus: Feigned refusal of that which is desired.
• Anacoloutha: Non-reciprocal word substitution.
• Acutezza: The use of wit or wordplay.
• Acyron: Using a word opposite to what is meant.
• Adianoeta: Expression that has second, subtle meaning.
• Adjunction: Putting the verb at the beginning.
• Adynaton: Exaggerated declaration of impossibility.
• Apcope: Omitting letters from the end of a word.
• Aphaeresis: Omitting letters from the start of a word.
• Asteismos: Polite expression of emotion.
• Aetiologia: A statement with a supporting cause.
• Affirmatio: Speaking as if one's point is disputed.
• Aganactesis: Indignant exclamation.
• Allegory: Narrative using sustained metaphor.
• Alleotheta: Substituting one thing for another.
• Allusion: Indirect reference.
• Alliteration: Repetition of same initial sound.
• Amphibology: Ambiguity in grammar.
• Amphilogy: Circumlocution to avoid harm to oneself.
• Ampliatio: Using a name where it is not defined.
• Anabasis: Stepwise increase in emphasis.
• Anacephalaeosis: Summary of known facts.
• Anacoenosis: Asking opinion of audience to gain agreement.
• Anacoloutha: Non-reciprocal word substitution.
• Anacoluthon: Ending a sentence different to expectation.
• Anacrusis: Unstressed syllables at the start.
• Anadiplosis: Repeating last word at start of next sentence.
• Analogy: A is like B. Using one thing to describe another.
• Anamnesis: Emotional recall.
• Anangeon: Justification based on necessity.
• Anaphora: Repeating initial words.
• Anapodoton: Omitting clause for deliberate effect.
• Anastrophe: Changing normal word order.
• Anesis: Adding a conclusion that reduces what was said.
• Antanaclasis: Repeating same word, with meaning change.
• Antanagoge: Being positive about something negative.
• Anthimeria: Substituting one part of speech for another.
• Antimetabole: repeating clause, reversing word order.
• Anthypophora: Asking then answering your own questions.
• Antiphrasis: Using words in contrary sense for irony.
• Antiptosis: Two logical, but contradicting, arguments.
• Antisthecon: Replacing one word element.
• Antithesis: Contrasting with opposite.
• Antonomasia: Naming a person with other than their given name.
• Aphorismus: Questioning the meaning of a word.
• Apophasis: Talking about something without mentioning it.
• Aporia: Feigned doubt.
• Aposiopesis: Not completing a sentence.
• Apostrophe: An 'aside', to others.
• Archaism: Using out-of-date language.
• Assonance: Repeating the same sound.
• Asterismos: Adding a word to emphasize following words.
• Asyndeton: Omitting conjunctions.
• Autoclesis: introducing an item by refusing to discuss it.
• Auxesis: Enhancement of importance.
• Brachyology: Condensed expression.
• Cacemphaton: Deliberately ill-sounding expression.
• Cacophony: Harsh combination of words.
• Catabasis: Steadily decreasing emphasis.
• Catachresis: Using words incorrectly.
• Cataphora: Using a word to refer to a word used later.
• Chiasmus: Two phrases, with reversal in second.
• Cledonism: Circumlocution to avoid saying unlucky words.
• Climax: Words ordered in ascending power.
• Consonance: Repeating consonant sounds.
• Correctio: Correction to revise meaning.
• Crasis: Contraction of two vowels into a longer sound.
• Diacope: Repeating word after one or two other words.
• Distinctio: Describing something by saying what it is not.
• Dysphemism: Substituting a mild word with a stronger one.
• Dystmesis: Inserting one word into the middle of another.
• Ellipsis: omission of words that would make a sentence explicit.
• Enallage: Substituting one item for another.
• Enjambment: Breaking a phrase at an odd point.
• Enumeratio: Breaking down and detailing a subject.
• Epanados: Repeating words in the reverse order.
• Epanalepsis: Repeating the same phrase at start and end.
• Epanorthosis: In-sentence correction.
• Epenthesis: Adding letters to the middle of a word.
• Epistrophe: Repetition of the same final word or phrase.
• Erotema: Rhetorical question.
• Euche: Expressing emotion through prayer.
• Euphemism: Substituting offensive words with gentle ones.
• Hendiadys: Two words, connected by conjunction.
• Heterosis: Changing the form of the verb.
• Homophone: Different words that sound the same.
• Hypallage: Reversing syntactical relationship.
• Hyperbaton: Separating words that belong together.
• Hyperbole: Deliberate over-exaggeration.
• Hypocatastasis: Implied comparison.
• Hysteron proteron: Reversing temporal sequence to put key things first.
• Illeism: Referring to oneself in the third person.
• Inclusio: Bracketing a passage with the same words.
• Innuendo: Oblique allusion.
• Irony: Saying something by using its opposite.
• Isocolon: Phrases with multiple similarities.
• Kenning: Replacing noun with circumlocutory mythologising.
• Litotes: Denying the contrary of what it being affirmed.
• Meiosis: Understatement for emphasis or effect.
• Merism: Combining words for meaning beyond normal combination.
• Merismos: Complete description or reference.
• Metalepsis: Referencing something through a weakly associated item.
• Metaphor: A is B. Using one thing to describe another.
• Metathesis: Rearranging letters in a word.
• Metaplasmus: Deliberate misspelling.
• Metonymy: Using one item to represent another.
• Oeonismos: Expressing emotion through wishing or hoping.
• Paradiastole: Portraying a vice as a virtue.
• Paraeneticon: Expressing emotion through exhortation.
• Paralipsis: Emphasis by obvious omission.
• Paraprosdokian: Surprising ending.
• Parataxis: Successive independent clauses.
• Paregmenon: Repetition of words of the same root.
• Parenthesis: Nesting sentences.
• Paronomasia: Using similarly sounding words.
• Parrhesia: Boldness of speech.
• Periphrasis: Roundabout wording.
• Perissologia: Excessive use of words.
• Pleonasm: Using unnecessary words.
• Ploce: Repetition of a word whilst varying specificity.
• Polyptoton: Repetition of a word in different forms.
• Polysyndeton: Repeating conjunctions.
• Polyptoton: Repetition in different forms.
• Praecisio: Not speaking to get over the message.
• Praeteritio: Mentioning something that is against the rules.
• Procatalepsis: Answering objections in advance.
• Prolepsis: Anticipation of action.
• Proparalepsis: Adding letters to the end of a word.
• Prosthesis: Prefixing letters to the beginning of a word.
• Repetitio: Repeating a single word.
• Rhyme: Repeating sounds at end of words.
• Scesis onamaton: Omitting the only verb.
• Simile: Explicit comparison between two things.
• Symploce: Simultaneous use of anaphora and epistrophe.
• Synaloepha: Omitting one vowel to combine two words.
• Synchysis: Confused arrangement of words.
• Syncope: Shortening word by omitting middle segment.
• Syndeton: Use of conjunctions.
• Synecdoche: Understanding one thing with another.
• Synesis: Unifying things.
• Synizesis: Successively sounded vowels.
• Tapinosis: Downplaying and reducing something.

More to come...

See also

Metaphor

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