figure of speech

/ˈfɪgjər əv spitʃ/

/ˈfɪgə əv spitʃ/

Other forms: figures of speech

A figure of speech is a phrase or saying that's not literal, like saying someone who died "kicked the bucket."

Language is full of terms, phrases, and sayings that might seem odd if you don't already know what they mean. When you say you're hungry enough to eat a horse, it's doubtful you mean that literally: it's just a figure of speech. When you say it's raining cats and dogs, pets aren't falling from the sky: it's a figure of speech. English is full of figures of speech, which are definitely not a case of language going to the dogs.

Definitions of figure of speech

1. noun

   language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense
   synonyms: figure, image, trope

   types:

   conceit

   an elaborate poetic image or a far-fetched comparison of very dissimilar things

   irony

   a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs

   exaggeration, hyperbole

   extravagant exaggeration

   kenning

   a compound word used as a conventional metaphorical name for something, specially in Old English and Old Norse poetry

   metaphor

   a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity

   metonymy

   substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads')

   oxymoron

   conjoining contradictory terms (as in `deafening silence')

   personification, prosopopoeia

   representing an abstract quality or idea as a person or creature

   simile

   a figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds (usually formed with 'like' or 'as')

   synecdoche

   a figure of speech in which part of something is used to refer to or represent the whole thing (or vice versa)

   zeugma

   use of a word to govern two or more words though appropriate to only one

   synesthesia

   a figure of speech in which an author appeals to more than one of the five senses

   dramatic irony

   (theater) irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play

   dead metaphor, frozen metaphor

   a metaphor that has occurred so often that it has become a new meaning of the expression (e.g., `he is a snake' may once have been a metaphor but after years of use it has died and become a new sense of the word `snake')

   mixed metaphor

   a combination of two or more metaphors that together produce a ridiculous effect

   synesthetic metaphor

   a metaphor that exploits a similarity between experiences in different sense modalities

   metalepsis

   substituting metonymy of one figurative sense for another

   syllepsis

   use of a word to govern two or more words though agreeing in number or case etc. with only one

   verbal irony

   when the intended meaning of a speaker’s words contrasts with the literal meaning

   situational irony

   when the result of an event or action is the opposite of what was intended or expected

   type of:

   rhetorical device

   a use of language that creates a literary effect (but often without regard for literal significance)