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Literary Devices
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Allegory | A device used to present an idea or principle that extends over an entire work. |
Allusion | A reference to a well-known place, literary or art work, famous person, or historical event. |
Analogy | An extended explanation or description of something unfamiliar or difficult to explain by comparison with something familiar. |
Euphemism | A mild descriptive word used instead of a possibly offensive or sexist term. |
Hyperbole | The use of overstatement or exaggeration. |
Idiom | An expression whose literal meaning is not signified by what the words suggest. |
Imagery | The use of any words that evoke sensations of sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste. |
Irony | A contrast between what is said or done and what is really intended to be said or done. |
Metaphor | A comparison of two unlike things that does not use like or as. |
Oxymoron | Combines terms or ideas which usually contradict each other but still may be technically true. |
Personification | Figurative language that refers to animals, ideas, or things as if they were human. |
Simile | A comparison of two unlike things that use like or as. |
Symbol | An object, person, place or action that has a meaning in itself and that also represents a meaning beyond itself, such as a quality, an attitude, a belief, or a value. |