Figurative Language Terms and Definitions

Figurative Language/Literary Devices Terms & Definitions

1. Alliteration: When there are two or more words in a phrase or passage that begin with the same consonant sound.

a. Example: the dynamic duo dance across the deck.

2. Personification: When living traits are given to non-living things.

a. The wind slapped my face with an icy blast.

3. Idiom: is a common phrase or a fixed expression that has a figurative meaning.

a. It’s raining cats and dogs.

4. Onomatopoeia: Words that are sound effects.

a. “meow” “purr” “buzz”

5. Metaphor: using the meaning or identity ascribed to one subject to describe another subject. The first subject, which is the focus of the sentences is compared to the second subject. The purpose of using a metaphor is to take an identity or concept that we understand clearly (second subject) and use it to better understand the lesser known element (the first subject).

a. Henry was a lion on the battlefield.

6. Simile: makes a comparison just like a metaphor, EXCEPT a metaphor uses the verb, a simile uses “like” or “as.”

7. Allusion: is a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.

8. Imagery: very descriptive language that uses the 5 senses to visualize.

9. Foreshadowing: literary device used when the author hints about events that are to come, but usually not completely clear until the end of the story.

10. Flashback: a literary device used within a story to tell events that have happened in the past, not in current time of the story.

11. Rhyming: literary device used when the end sound of words are the same.

12. Juxtaposition: literary device having two things that are opposite in proximity to each other in writing.

13. Repetition: literary device using the same word or phrase to emphasize meaning or point

14. Connotation-when a word has a suggested different definition then the denoted definition in the dictionary.