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Literary Devices
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Allegory | device used to present an idea or principle that extends over an entire work |
Allusion | reference well known place, literary or art work, famous person, or historical event |
Analogy | extended explanation or description of something unfamiliar or difficult to explain by comparison with something familiar |
Euphemism | mild descriptive word used instead of a possibly offensive or sexist term |
Hyperbole | overstatement or exaggeration |
Idiom | expression whose literal meaning is not signified by the what words suggest |
Imagery | use of any words that evoke sensations if sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste |
Irony | contrast between what is said or done and what is really intended to be said or done |
Metaphor | 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 | comparison of two unlike things that use like or as |
Symbol | object, person, or action that has a meaning in itself and that also represents a meaning beyond itself, such as quality, an attitude, a belief, or a value |