Literary Terms: Rhetoric

You'll be able to express yourself with style once you learn these rhetorical devices and tropes. This vocabulary list covers a wide range of techniques used in formal speech and writing, from alliteration to zeugma.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ad hominem
    appealing to personal considerations rather than to reason
  2. alliteration
    use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word
  3. anaphora
    repetition of a word or phrase to begin successive clauses
  4. anastrophe
    the reversal of the normal order of words
  5. antithesis
    the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas for balance
  6. apostrophe
    an address to an absent or imaginary person
  7. apposition
    the act of placing close together or side by side
  8. archaism
    the use of an outdated expression
  9. assonance
    the repetition of similar vowels in successive words
  10. asyndeton
    omission of conjunctions where they would normally be used
  11. bathos
    a change from a serious subject to a disappointing one
  12. cacophony
    loud confusing disagreeable sounds
  13. chiasmus
    inversion in the second of two parallel phrases
  14. colloquialism
    an expression that seeks to imitate informal speech
  15. dialectic
    arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments
  16. discourse
    extended verbal expression in speech or writing
  17. epigraph
    a quotation at the beginning of some piece of writing
  18. epithet
    descriptive word or phrase
  19. eponym
    the name derived from a person (real or imaginary)
  20. eristic
    the art of logical disputation (especially if specious)
  21. euphemism
    an inoffensive expression substituted for an offensive one
  22. euphony
    any pleasing and harmonious sounds
  23. hyperbole
    extravagant exaggeration
  24. hypothesis
    a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
  25. invective
    abusive language used to express blame or censure
  26. irony
    incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
  27. jargon
    technical terminology characteristic of a particular subject
  28. litotes
    understatement for rhetorical effect
  29. maxim
    a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits
  30. metaphor
    a figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity
  31. metonymy
    substituting the name of a feature for the name of the thing
  32. non sequitur
    a conclusion that does not follow from the premises
  33. onomatopoeia
    using words that imitate the sound they denote
  34. oxymoron
    conjoined contradictory terms
  35. paradox
    a statement that contradicts itself
  36. parallelism
    similarity by virtue of corresponding
  37. parenthesis
    a message that departs from the main subject
  38. parody
    a composition that imitates or misrepresents a style
  39. personification
    representing an abstract quality or idea as a human
  40. pleonasm
    using more words than necessary
  41. rebuttal
    the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary argument
  42. repetition
    the continued use of the same word or word pattern
  43. simile
    a figure of speech expressing a resemblance between things
  44. syllogism
    reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises
  45. synecdoche
    using part of something to refer to the whole thing
  46. tautology
    a statement that is necessarily true
  47. thesis
    an unproved statement advanced as a premise in an argument
  48. trope
    language used in a nonliteral sense
  49. understatement
    something said in a restrained way for ironic contrast
  50. zeugma
    rhetorical use of a word to govern two or more words
Created on Wed Dec 02 12:24:34 EST 2020

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