rhetorical device

/rɪˈtɔrɪkəl dɪˈvaɪs/

/rɪˈtɔrɪkəl dɪˈvaɪs/

Other forms: rhetorical devices

A rhetorical device is a use of language that is intended to have an effect on its audience. Repetition, figurative language, and even rhetorical questions are all examples of rhetorical devices. You hear me?

Rhetorical devices are common, such as saying language is a living beast: that's a metaphor — one of the most common rhetorical devices. Another is alliteration, like saying "bees behave badly in Boston." Rhetorical devices go beyond the meaning of words to create effects that are creative and imaginative, adding literary quality to writing.

Definitions of rhetorical device

1. noun

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

   anacoluthia, anacoluthon

   an abrupt change within a sentence from one syntactic structure to another

   asyndeton

   the omission of conjunctions where they would normally be used

   repetition

   the repeated use of the same word or word pattern as a rhetorical device

   anastrophe, inversion

   the reversal of the normal order of words

   antiphrasis

   the use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal sense (especially in irony)

   antithesis

   the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance

   antinomasia

   substitution of a title for a name

   apophasis

   mentioning something by saying it will not be mentioned

   aposiopesis

   breaking off in the middle of a sentence (as by writers of realistic conversations)

   apostrophe

   address to an absent or imaginary person

   catachresis

   strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor: `blind mouths')

   chiasmus

   inversion in the second of two parallel phrases

   climax

   arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness

   conversion

   interchange of subject and predicate of a proposition

   ecphonesis, exclamation

   an exclamatory rhetorical device

   emphasis

   special and significant stress by means of position or repetition

   enallage

   a substitution of part of speech or gender or number or tense etc. (e.g., editorial `we' for `I')

   epanorthosis

   immediate rephrasing for intensification or justification

   epiplexis

   a rhetorical device in which the speaker reproaches the audience in order to incite or convince them

   hendiadys

   use of two conjoined nouns instead of a noun and modifier

   hypallage

   reversal of the syntactic relation of two words (as in `her beauty's face')

   hyperbaton

   reversal of normal word order (as in 'cheese I love')

   hypozeugma

   use of a series of subjects with a single predicate

   hypozeuxis

   use of a series of parallel clauses (as in `I came, I saw, I conquered')

   hysteron proteron

   reversal of normal order of two words or sentences etc. (as in `bred and born')

   litotes, meiosis

   understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)

   onomatopoeia

   using words that imitate the sound they denote

   paraleipsis, paralepsis, paralipsis, preterition

   suggesting by deliberately concise treatment that much of significance is omitted

   paregmenon

   juxtaposing words having a common derivation (as in `sense and sensibility')

   polysyndeton

   using several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted (as in `he ran and jumped and laughed for joy')

   prolepsis

   anticipating and answering objections in advance

   wellerism

   a comparison comprising a well-known quotation followed by a facetious sequel

   figure, figure of speech, image, trope

   language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense

   ecphrasis, ekphrasis

   a literary description of a work of visual art

   parallelism

   the repetition of similar or equivalent syntactical constructions, often for rhetorical effect

   antimetabole

   (rhetoric) the repetition of the same words in reverse order

   topicalization

   (linguistics) emphasis placed on the topic or focus of a sentence by preposing it to the beginning of the sentence; placing the topic at the beginning of the sentence is typical for English

   anadiplosis, reduplication

   repetition of the final words of a sentence or line at the beginning of the next

   epanalepsis

   repetition after intervening words

   epanodos

   repetition of a group of words in reverse order

   epiphora, epistrophe

   repetition of the ends of two or more successive sentences, verses, etc.

   gemination

   the doubling of a word or phrase (as for rhetorical effect)

   ploce

   (rhetoric) repetition to gain special emphasis or extend meaning

   polyptoton

   repetition of a word in a different case or inflection in the same sentence

   anaphora, epanaphora

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

   anaphora

   using a pronoun or similar word instead of repeating a word used earlier

   symploce

   repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and another at the end of successive clauses, i.e., simultaneous use of anaphora and epistrophe

   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

   type of:

   device

   something in an artistic work designed to achieve a particular effect