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Figure of speech

A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from ordinary language use to produce a rhetorical effect.[1] Figures of speech are traditionally classified into schemes, which vary the ordinary sequence of words, and tropes, where words carry a meaning other than what they ordinarily signify.

An example of a scheme is a polysyndeton: the repetition of a conjunction before every element in a list, whereas the conjunction typically would appear only before the last element, as in "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"—emphasizing the danger and number of animals more than the prosaic wording with only the second "and". An example of a trope is the metaphor, describing one thing as something it clearly is not, as a way to illustrate by comparison, as in "All the world's a stage."

addition (adiectio), also called repetition/expansion/superabundance

omission (detractio), also called subtraction/abridgement/lack

transposition (transmutatio), also called transferring

permutation (immutatio), also called switching/interchange/substitution/transmutation

Classical rhetoricians classified figures of speech into four categories or quadripita ratio:[2]


These categories are often still used. The earliest known text listing them, though not explicitly as a system, is the Rhetorica ad Herennium, of unknown authorship, where they are called πλεονασμός (pleonasmos—addition), ἔνδεια (endeia—omission), μετάθεσις (metathesis—transposition) and ἐναλλαγή (enallage—permutation).[3] Quintillian then mentioned them in Institutio Oratoria.[4] Philo of Alexandria also listed them as addition (πρόσθεσις—prosthesis), subtraction (ἀφαίρεσις—afairesis), transposition (μετάθεσις—metathesis), and transmutation (ἀλλοίωσις—alloiosis).[5]

"Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran" is an example of , where the consonant r is used repeatedly. "Sister Suzy‘s sewing socks for soldiers" is a particular form of alliteration called sibilance, repeating an s sound. Both are commonly used in poetry.

alliteration

Figures of speech come in many varieties.[6] The aim is to use the language inventively to accentuate the effect of what is being said. A few examples follow:

: accumulating arguments in a concise forceful manner.

Accumulatio

: the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Example: "She sells sea shells by the sea shore".

Alliteration

: repetition of a word at the end of a clause and then at the beginning of its succeeding clause.

Anadiplosis

: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

Anaphora

: changing the object, subject and verb order in a clause.

Anastrophe

: an abrupt descent (either deliberate or unintended) on the part of a speaker or writer from the strong conclusion that appeared imminent.

Example: "People, pets, batteries, ... all are dead."

Anti-climax

: transformation of a word of a certain word class to another word class.

Anthimeria

: a sentence consisting of the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in reverse order.

Antimetabole

: juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas.

Antithesis

: statement that calls into question the definition of a word.

Aphorismus

: breaking off or pausing speech for dramatic or emotional effect.

Aposiopesis

: repetition of vowel sounds: "Smooth move!" or "Please leave!" or "That's the fact Jack!"

Assonance

: omission of conjunctions between related clauses.

Asyndeton

: two or more clauses related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point.

Chiasmus

: arrangement of words in an ascending order.

Climax

: repetition of consonant sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse.

Consonance

: matching items in two sequences.

Correlative verse

: repetition of a word or phrase with one or two intervening words.

Diacope

: omission of one or more letters in speech, making it colloquial.

Elision

: wording ignoring grammatical rules or conventions.

Enallage

: ending sentences with their beginning.

Epanalepsis

Epiphrase

(also known as antistrophe): repetition of the same word or group of words at the end of successive clauses. The counterpart of anaphora.

Epistrophe

: repetition of a single word, with no other intervening words.

Epizeuxis

: use of two nouns to express an idea when it normally would consist of an adjective and a noun.

Hendiadys

: use of three nouns to express one idea.

Hendiatris

: words with the same ending.

Homeoteleuton

: a transferred epithet from a conventional choice of wording.[8]

Hypallage

: two ordinary associated words are detached.[9][10] The term is also used more generally for any figure of speech that transposes natural word order.[10]

Hyperbaton

: every clause having its own independent subject and predicate.

Hypozeuxis

: the inversion of the usual temporal or causal order between two elements.

Hysteron proteron

: use of parallel structures of the same length in successive clauses.

Isocolon

: using two or more rhyming words in the same sentence.

Internal rhyme

: an understatement achieved by negating the opposite statement, such as "not too bad" for "very good", or "she is not a beauty queen" for "she is ugly", yielding an ironical effect.

Litotes

: referring to a whole by enumerating some of its parts.

Merism

: word that imitates a real sound (e.g. tick-tock or boom).

Onomatopoeia

: repetition of the disjunctive pair "neither" and "nor".

Paradiastole

: the use of similar structures in two or more clauses.

Parallelism

: an utterance that uses the same word with two different meanings, creating a pun.

Paraprosdokian

: alliteration in which every word in a sentence or phrase begins with the same letter.

Paroemion

: repetition of words derived from the same root.

Polyptoton

: close repetition of conjunctions.

Polysyndeton

: repetition of letter 's', it is a form of consonance.

Sibilance

: switching places of syllables within two words in a sentence yielding amusement.

Spoonerism

: omission of parts of a word or phrase.

Syncope

: simultaneous use of anaphora and epistrophe: the repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning and the end of successive clauses.

Symploce

: words that are intentionally scattered to create perplexment.

Synchysis

: referring to a part by its whole or vice versa.

Synecdoche

: use of two or more synonyms in the same clause or sentence.

Synonymia

: redundancy due to superfluous qualification; saying the same thing twice.

Tautology

: insertions of content within a compound word.

Tmesis

: combination of three elements, each decreasing in size.

Tricolon diminuens

: combination of three elements, each increasing in size.

Tricolon crescens

: the using of one verb for two or more actions.

Zeugma

Idiom

List of forms of word play

Repetition (rhetorical device)

Rhetorical device

Stylistic device

by theidioms.com

Figure of speech