List of Figures of Speech

Personification - is all about adding a human trait to an inanimate

object or an abstraction.

For example: The picture in that magazine shouted for attention.

Simile - is a figure of speech that compares two unrelated things or

ideas using "like" or "as" to accentuate a certain feature of an object
by comparing it to a dissimilar object that is a typical example of that
particular trait.

For example: as big as a bus, as clear as a bell, as dry as a bone, etc.

Analogy - is a figure of speech that equates two things to explain

something unfamiliar by highlighting its similarities to something that
is familiar. This figure of speech is commonly used in spoken and
written English.

For example: Questions and answers, crying and laughing, etc.

Metaphor - compares two different or unrelated things to reveal

certain new qualities in the subject, which you might have ignored or
overlooked otherwise.

For example: The streets of Chennai are a furnace.

Alliteration - is the duplication of a specific consonant sound at the

start of each word and in quick succession. Although alliterations are
all about consonant sounds, exceptions can be made, when vowels
sounds are also repeated. This figure of speech is commonly seen in
poems.

For example: "Guinness is good for you" - Tagline for Guinness

Hyperbole - A far-fetched, over exaggerated description or sentence

is called as hyperbole and is commonly used in jokes and making
backhanded compliments.

For example: When she smiles, her cheeks fall off.

Onomatopoeia - This figure of speech is partly pleasure and partly

business. It is used to replicate sounds created by objects, actions,
animals and people.
For example: Cock-a-doodle-do, quack, moo, etc.

Imagery - is a figure of speech, which employs words to create mental

images in the mind of the reader. It is a powerful tool and mostly used
by poets, lyricists and authors.

For example: "Cloudless every day you fall upon my waking eyes inviting
and inciting me to rise, and through the window in the wall, come
streaming in on sunlight wings, A million bright ambassadors of morning."
- A portion of the lyrics to the song 'Echoes' by the band Pink Floyd

Symbol - refers to the use of an object or symbol to represent or

indicate something else.

For example: The symbolism of a red rose (love), the symbolism of a white
flag (peace), etc.

Pun - is a figure of speech that plays with words to give away obscured
meanings. A pun is also known as paronomasia.

For example: My son wanted a scooter. When I told him they are too
dangerous, he moped around the house.

Allegory - is nothing but an improvised metaphor. It is a figure of

speech, which involves the use of characters or actions in a piece of
literature, wherein the characters have more to them than meets the
eye.

For example: The Trojan Women by Euripides,

Aesop's Fables by Aesop.

Tautology - is needless repetition of words to denote the same thing.

For example: CD-ROM disk, PIN number, ATM machine, etc.

Palindrome - is a series of numbers, words or phrases that reads the

same in either direction.

For example: Malayalam, A Toyota's a Toyota, etc.

Euphemism - is a figure of speech where an offensive word or

expression is replaced with a polite word.
For example: David: Do you have a few minutes?
Ryan: No, I'm busy.
David: Ok, listen...
Ryan: No, you listen, when I said 'busy', I meant leave me the hell alone.

Assonance - is a repetition of the vowel sounds. Such a figure of

speech is found most commonly in short sentences or verses.

For example: And murmuring of innumerable bees.

Idiom - is a phrase, expression or group of words whose implication is

not clear when you go by the literal meaning of words.

For example: As easy as pie, at the eleventh hour, pull someone's leg, etc.

Funny Metaphors - are metaphors that ring aloud with humor.

For example: That's like trying to thread a needle with a haystack.

Allusion - is an indirect or subtle reference made about a person,

place or thing in a work of literature.

For example: I am no Prince Hamlet.

Antecedent - An antecedent, in grammar, is a word, a phrase, or a

clause that is usually replaced by a pronoun in a sentence, but
regularly so in a following sentence.

For example: When I arrived to meet Caleb, he wasn't to be seen.

Jargon - is the kind of language that is specific to a particular trade,

occupation, professionals or group of people.

For example: I need your vitals.

Double Negative - is a figure of speech that occurs when two

negative words or two forms of negation are used in one sentence.

For example: I won't not use no ladder to climb the building.

Adjunction - is a phrase or a clause that is placed at the start of a

sentence. An adjunction, in most cases, is a verb.
For example: Runs the leopard past us as we stray deeper into his territory.

Antithesis - is a figure of speech where two very opposing lines of

thought or ideas are placed in a somewhat balanced sentenced.

For example: Man proposes: God disposes.

Apostrophe - is used when a person who is absent or nonexistent is

spoken to.

For example: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky."

Climax - In a climax, the words are placed in an ascending order,

depending on their significance. These words generally revolve around
a central theme and are arranged in an increasing order to create a
strong impression on the mind of the reader.

For example: "There are three things that will endure: faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love." - 1 Corinthians 13:13

Metonymy - is a figure of speech where one word or phrase is used in

place of another. With metonymies, a name of a particular thing is
substituted with the name of a thing that is closely related to it.

For example: "We have always remained loyal to the crown."

Oxymoron - involves the usage of contradictory terms to describe an

object, situation or incident.

For example: open secret, tragic comedy, exact estimate, original copies,
etc.

Synecdoche - This is figure of speech where a part of a particular

object is employed to throw light on the whole thing.

For example: Describing a whole vehicle as just "wheels".

Stereotype - A stereotype, as far as the figures of speech are

concerned, is a convention, a predisposition or a set approach to any
particular issue.

For example: All blondes are dumb.

 Anastrophe - An anastrophe refers to an inversion or rearrangement
of a group of words that usually appear in a certain order.

For example: Gold that glitters is not all that not. (All that glitters is gold)

Anaphora - is an expression, which refers to another and can be

ambiguous.

For example: The tiger ate the snake and it died. Longfellow

Antonomasia - This figure of speech uses the name of a person on

another person or persons possessing characteristics that are similar to
the characteristics of the former.

For example: He was the Adolf Hitler of the school.

Litotes - are nothing but an understatement. It can be used when you

are looking to underplay a positive with a negative.

For example: The food at that restaurant is not bad at all.

Paralipsis - is a figure of speech that focuses on any particular thing

without really making it obvious.

For example: I know who ate the last apple, but I will not mention Karen's
name.

Rhetoric - in writing refers to an unexplained and undue use of

exaggeration.

For example: When I reached the peak of the mountain, I stretched out my
hands, touched heaven and took a quick look at the Almighty!

Zeugma - refers to the employment of a word to bridge two or more

words, but here the word makes sense to one word or all words in
dissimilar ways.

For example: She lowered her standards by raising her glass, her courage,
her eyes and his hopes.

Anticlimax - as a figure speech refers to the building up a climax that

results in something that cannot really be described as a climax.
For example: On discovering that his friend was murdered, with vengeance
on his mind Ravi rushed back to his college, only to find his friend sipping on
coffee in the college canteen.

Consonance - refers to the repetition of consonant sounds, within the

limits of a sentence or a certain number of sentences.

For example: "Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the
village though; He will not see me stopping here. To watch his woods fill up
with snow." - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Irony - is used to stress on the opposite meaning of a word. When

people are looking to be sarcastic, they employ irony.

For example: He was so intelligent, that he failed all his tests.

Polysyndeton - refers to that figure of speech which makes good use

of conjunctions and in close succession.

For example: He ran and jumped and laughed for joy.

Rhetorical Question - is a question wherein the answer is more than

obvious.

For example: A person enters a dark room and asks out loud - 'Has someone
turned off the lights?'

Anadiplosis - refers to the repetition of a significant word in a

sentence in the second part of the same sentence, usually with a slight
change in its meaning or an exaggerated word for the same.

For example: "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to
suffering." -Yoda, Star Wars

Appositive - is a word or phrase that is used in juxtaposing related

issues.

For example: Jeanne, Diane's eleven-year-old beagle, chews holes in the

living room carpeting as if he were still a puppy.

Enthymeme - is a figure of speech where an argument that is being

made has no definite conclusion or is not completely expressed.

For example: "With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good."

 Parallelism - In the English language, parallelism refers to balance
created between two or more similar words and sentences.

For example: I like rich desserts, fast card-games, and difficult riddles.

Asyndeton - This is a figure of speech that conveniently ignores the

use of conjunctions.

For example: She has provided with a chance to earn a living, with self-
respect, with satisfaction.

Parenthesis - refers to a self-explanatory and contradicting word or

sentence that breaks the flow in a series of sentences, often without
affecting the flow in an obvious manner. Commas and dashes are
employed when a parenthesis is used.

For example: Would you, Kris, listen to me?

Antimetabole - is a figure of speech, where the second half of a

sentence, phrase or series is in the exact opposite order of the first
part.

For example: E,F,G - G,F,E

Epistrophe - or epiphora is the repetition of the same word or words

at the end of consecutive phrases, clauses or sentences. It is extremely
emphatic and is usually employed to stress the last word in a phrase or
sentence.

For example: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared
to what lies within us." -Emerson

Understatement - is a figure of speech that is used to undermine the

due importance of a statement.

For example: "A soiled baby, with a neglected nose, cannot be

conscientiously regarded as a thing of beauty." - (Mark Twain)

Chiasmus - is another important figure of speech wherein two or more

clauses are joined together through a reversing the syntax to convey a
bigger point.

For example: "I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me." - (Ovid)
 Epithet - can be best defined as a descriptive title that commonly
involves a word or a phrase that is used in lieu of the real name.

For example: Alexander the Great.