Figurative Language Definitions

Front

What uses figures of speech to build meaning beyond the literal?

Back

Figurative language

Front

What is an indirect comparison that typically uses like or as? Example: She is as happy as a cat riding a unicorn through space.

Back

Simile

Front

What is a direct comparison between two objects or concepts? Example: Her long hair was a flowing golden river.

Back

Metaphor

Front

What gives human traits to something that is not human? Example: My alarm clock yells at me every morning to get out of bed!

Back

Personification

Front

What are words that resemble the sound they represent? Example: The baseball whizzed past my ear straight into the catcher’s mitt for strike 3.

Back

Onomatopoeia

Front

What is the repetition of the beginning consonant sound within a group of words? Example: Kathy can’t cook chocolate chip cookies continuously, can she?

Back

Alliteration

Front

What is the use of language that engages the 5 senses: Hearing, Sight, Taste, Smell, and Touch? Example: The scruffy black cat’s back arches and hair stands straight up when it encounters the chocolate brown snarling dog whose teeth look like little knives covered in butter.

Back

Imagery

Front

What is an extreme exaggeration? Example: Finally, on the millionth time he asked her out a date, she said yes!

Back

Hyperbole

Front

Expression that means something more than the literal definition. Example: If you don’t zip your lips, I will zip them for you!

Back

Idiom

Front

What is a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance? Example: Let’s not go there; it will unlock Pandora’s box.

Back

Allusion