What are Figures of Language:
Speech figures are resources used in speech or writing to make the transmitted message more expressive.
It is very important to know how to identify the different figures of speech, as this way it is possible to better interpret the different types of texts.
Understanding and knowing how to use style figures enables the more effective use of language as a social phenomenon, helping to glimpse the symbolism of some conversations and literary works, for example.
Figures of speech can be subdivided into: word pictures, thought figures and construction figures.
See also: the meaning of rhetorical figures.
Word Pictures
- catachresis: use of a word in the figurative sense because there is no proper term. Ex.: "The leg of glasses".
- Metaphor: establishes a relationship of similarity by using a term with a meaning different from the usual one. Ex.: "The girl is a flower".
- Comparation: similar to a metaphor, a comparison is a figure of speech used to qualify a similar feature between two or more elements. However, in the case of comparison, there is a connecting word (like, it seemed, like, like, like, etc.). Ex: "Her look is like the moon, it shines wonderfully".
- Metonymy: logical replacement of one word for a similar one. Ex.: "Drink a glass of wine".
- Onomatopoeia: imitation of a sound. Ex.: "trrrimmmmm" (telephone).
- Periphrasis: use of a word or expression to designate something or someone. Ex.: "City of Light" (Paris).
- Synesthesia: mix of different sensory impressions. Ex.: "The sweet sound of the flute".
Thought Figures
- Antithesis: words of opposite meanings. E.g.: good/bad
- Paradox: referring to two contradictory ideas in a single sentence or thought. Ex: "I still remember that deafening silence".
- Euphemism: intention to soften a fact or attitude. Ex.: "Gone to heaven" (he died).
check out 10 examples of euphemism.
- Hyperbole: intentional exaggeration. Ex.: "Dead of sleep".
- Irony: contrary affirmation of what one thinks. Ex.: "It's a saint!" (for someone with bad behavior).
- Prosopopeia or Personification: attribution of proper predicates of animate beings to inanimate beings. Ex.: "The sun is shy".
Construction Figures
- Alliteration: repetition of a certain sound in verses or phrases. Ex: "The mouse gnawed at the clothes...".
- Anacoluto: alteration of the normal construction of the sentence. Ex.: "Man, I don't know what he intended".
- Anaphora: intentional repetition of a word or expression to reinforce the meaning. Ex.: “Night-mountain. Empty night. Undecided night. Confused night. Night in search, even without a target". (Carlos Drummond de Andrade).
- Ellipse: omission of an easily identifiable term. Ex.: "In traffic, cars and more cars". (there is).
- Pleonasm: repetition of a term, redundancy. Ex.: "Climb up".
- polysyndeton: repetition of the conjunction between the terms of the clause. Ex.: "Neither the sky, nor the sea, nor the brightness of the stars".
- Zeugma: omission of a term previously expressed. Ex: “He likes English; I (I like) German”.
- Silepsis: agreement with the idea you want to convey, a hidden term, not the term of the sentence. Ex: "the beautiful one (Island of) Fernando de Noronha".
See too:
- Metaphor Examples
- Examples of figures of speech
- what are rhymes
- Examples of notwithstanding and their meaning
Update date: 03/01/2021.
Other meanings and concepts that may interest
- Examples of figures of speech
- meaning of figurative language
- 12 examples of metaphors and their meanings
- Meaning of Rhetorical Figures
- Definition of Onomatopoeia
- Definition of Anaphora
- Definition of Cacophony
- Definition of Catachresis
- 38 Figures of Speech
- Definition of Zeugma